


Clipped Wings

by Practically_Venus



Category: Sonic X, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Major Character Injury, There is a creepy stalker involved so be careful, eggman can be soft if I want him to be, focuses on friendships, sonamy (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27684218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Practically_Venus/pseuds/Practically_Venus
Summary: A battle with one of Eggman’s robots goes wrong and Rouge’s wings are badly hurt. Knuckles realizes just how much she means to him as he does anything he can to help her.
Relationships: Knuckles the Echidna/Rouge the Bat
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	1. Her Broken Body

Knuckles and Rouge had been hanging out together when Eggman’s newest robot attacked. They had been hanging out a lot more since Rouge joined the good side; well, mostly. She still had trouble resisting herself around the chaos emeralds, but for the most part she was a wonderful addition to sonic’s team. So naturally, when Eggman’s robot of the week started beating up on the habitat of some local wildlife, she was obliged to help stop it.   
Eggman’s robots were a lower caliber than they used to be. Either he was getting old or going soft. Sonic was convinced that he only kept sending robots as a hobby, and goodness knows he needed one. So the cycle was simple: Eggman makes a robot, attacks some low-risk area, the team destroys it. Everyone else seemed to never get tired of fighting, but Rouge was beginning to find it monotonous.   
Knuckles and Rouge followed the sounds of robotic metal on trees, going as fast as they could. “I’ve got an aerial view of the machine. It’s an ugly one,” Rouge said aloud to Knuckles, who was running below her as she flew. “Since when are Eggman’s bots pretty?” He shot back. Soon he could see the machine too; it was huge, with treads on the bottom and chainsaws for arms. It’s tiny head turned to identify where the biggest trees it could cut down were. A wave of small woodland creatures were running away from the monstrosity and past the heroes.   
“Hey!” Sonic’s voice came from behind them, and he was instantly seen running alongside Knuckles. Tails caught up by air, next to Rouge.   
“We’ve got to get this buttbot out of the woods. Tails, Rouge, you distract it and lead it to the rocky caves area. Knuckles can take care of any animals or trees that need attention, and I’ll run ahead to the caves and make a trap for the badnic! Got it?” Sonic briefed his team, and they all nodded in response.   
“What about Amy and Cream?” Rouge had to ask, even if she already knew the answer. “Protecting the base,” Sonic replied curtly. Which was just code for ‘I don’t want Amy to get hurt, and Cream is a literal child’. Sonic had been unbearably protective of Amy since they had officially gotten together about a month ago. Rouge didn’t like being the only girl on the team; she felt it reflected poorly on the strength of females in general, not to mention it made her seem like more of a brute compared to the two homebodies. She didn’t comment on this.  
Everyone split up to do their designated jobs. Tails and Rouge flew low around the bot’s face, catching his attention. The bot swung his roaring chainsaws at the two aggravations. Tails was nearly chopped clean in half. The flyers expertly dodged the robot’s attacks, seemingly flying in random patterns while they drifted in the direction they wanted to go. Finally the robot gave up trying to destroy the scenery and focused on destroying Rouge and Tails.  
“Let’s get out of here, botbait!” Tails yelled to Rouge, and they both flew as fast as they could towards the designated meeting place, the rocky caves. The chainsaw robot was on their heels the whole way there.   
It hadn’t taken Knuckles long to straighten out the trees and check the nests of critters. The robot hadn’t been active for more than 5 minutes before the team had shown up, so the damage control was minimal. He decided to follow the bot and help destroy it once they got to the caves.   
As the trees thinned, the forest opened up into a valley. On the other side of this valley were the rocky caves. Sonic had crafted a pitfall just in front of the caves so that the robot would trip and crash onto the unforgiving rocks. Rouge slapped a palm to her forehead. This would usually work, but this robot had treads instead of the usual legs— Sonic clearly hadn’t looked at the bot too closely before rushing to make the trap. His confident face fell as Tails and Rouge led the bot out of the trees and Sonic got to see the machine’s mode of movement. The team would have to fight this bot personally instead of trapping it.   
“What now, genius?” Rouge yelled across the field, just barely dodging another swing from their mechanical enemy.   
“Now we beat it down!” Sonic replied, grinning again and revving up to attack the bot. At that signal, they all started attacking the robot directly! Rouge kicked the visual receptors in, blinding the bot. Knuckles, who had been close behind, punched the inner workings of the treads in hopes of making it lame. Tails dropped onto the bot’s back where the chainsaws couldn’t quite reach and searched for some sort of control panel he could hack into. Sonic used his spin dash to target the head and torso, attempting to topple it over. Everyone did their parts, and the robot flailed blindly about, unable to move forward anymore. Rouge flew back to see if she could help Tails find the control panel. Right at that moment Sonic warned “This buttbot is going down! Make way!” Tail was able to hover away from the bot’s way. Rouge, however, was unable to change trajectory quickly enough, as the warning had come too late; the machine came toppling down in her direction, still flailing its running chainsaws randomly. The giant weapons came down upon Rouge in all their fury. She felt a horrid pain in her back and heard the unbearable sound of flesh ripping, her own flesh. The bot batted her out of the sky, and her broken body was thrown against the cold, unforgiving ground.   
“ROUGE!” Somebody yelled. Rouge wasn’t aware of who. The robot crashed into the ground and was quickly incapacitated by the rest of the team. Knuckles didn’t help in making the final blows; he instead ran to Rouge’s side.   
Rouge was passed out. Her blood was running across the rocks she was sprawled on, coming from a gash across her back. Knuckles didn’t think he should move her. He kneeled by her side. He was shocked that robotnik’s goon had actually been able to harm one of them. Almost unthinkingly, he picked up one of her limp hands and cradled it in his own. Behind them, the robot was decimated by Tails and Sonic. It had stopped moving completely.  
Knuckles felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Sonic’s; Tails pulled a roll of clean bandages out from his pack and moved forward to wrap up Rouge’s wounds. Knuckles and Sonic stepped back until he was finished.   
“That should hold up until we can get Rouge to a real doctor,” Tails sighed, putting his first aid supplies away again. “It’s my fault, I should have warned her sooner,” Sonic gulped. Knuckles had been shocked, but now that was turning to anger. “Yeah, you should have! Look at what happened to her!” He rounded on Sonic. Tails stepped in between the two. “Let’s not turn on each other, alright? Sonic’s not the one who sent that robot. Save the anger for Eggman.”   
Knuckles realized he was being irrational, but he was still emotional. “Next time I see that Robotnic, he’s going to be sorry he ever looked at Rouge!” He exclaimed much louder than needed. Rouge twitched. The boys turned their attention to her again. Her eyelids were fluttering open. A low groan escaped her.   
“Shut up. I don’t need my ears to hurt as well as my wings.” Rouge growled. She tried to sit up, but trembled too much to do it.   
“There’s our Rouge!” Sonic laughed. “Looks like she’ll be fine. Let’s get back home.”  
Sonic began to lead the way back to their houses.   
Knuckles saw Rouge struggling to even sit up and turned to Tails. “I should bring Rouge home. How do I carry her without hurting her more?” He asked, though he didn’t sound gentle when he did. Tails showed him where to put his arms in order to support Rouge best while walking home. Rouge would have protested, but she was too weak. Tails helped Knuckles situate her in his arms as comfortably as possible. One arm supported her legs, while the other wrapped around her shoulders and supported her head. Tails ordered her to leave her arms on top of her stomach so she wouldn’t stretch her back. They started walking home, Knuckles being careful not to jostle her while cursing Eggman under his breath.   
Rouge stared vaguely up at his face. He looked angry. It was rare that he didn’t, but Rouge liked his smile more than his frown. She moved her hand slowly so that it rested against his chest. Knuckles looked down at her.   
“What do you need?” He asked, thinking that she needed his attention. That wasn’t her goal, but now that she had it, she would try to talk to him.   
“That buttnic. Did you… punch it to smithereens for me?” She asked haltingly, attempting a small smile. She didn’t usually say ‘buttnic,’ but she was trying to lighten the mood. Instead knuckles looked more concerned. “No, I… Sonic finished it off.” With that he looked away again, focused on navigating. Rouge felt awkward being fussed over, since she and Knuckles would bicker and banter so often. This caring side was something she hadn’t exactly seen before. Which is not to say that it wasn’t welcome. She looked up at him again. Maybe his frowning face could be as nice as his smiling one.   
Rouge finally closed her eyes to rest. They continued in silence for a while.   
“...Rouge?” Knuckles’ voice was a whisper. She opened her eyes again to see that they were nearly home. “Oh, good,” he sighed, “I thought you’d passed out again.” “No, I’m fine Knux. So you can stop fussing over me,” she teased him. He blushed and got upset. “Fine, I won’t worry about you! After all it’s your own stupid fault. Did you forget how to fly, batgirl?” He stormed. Rouge immediately changed her tune. “Aw, don’t get angry with me. I’m an injured girl! Can’t you have some sympathy?” She pouted, giving him her best doe eyes. He went red again. “Don’t make me drop you,” he threatened, but they both knew he was bluffing. He was just glad she had the energy to tease him now. Finally they had arrived at Vanilla and Cream’s house, which was not only the closest but the one the team used as their base. Sonic and Tails had already been there, and a bed and a doctor were ready to receive Rouge. Cream gasped when she saw the condition she was in. Amy emerged from the kitchen to see Rouge. They made eye contact, and Amy immediately teared up. She glanced at Knuckles. Then she went back into the kitchen. Vanilla helped Knuckles place Rouge, face down, on the prepared bed. The doctor requested that everyone else leave the room while he examined her wounds. They obliged.   
Knuckles went into the kitchen where Amy and Sonic already were. Amy seemed to be cooking something, and Sonic asked her what it was. “Biscuits and Pork Soup. It’s for Rouge, so she can regain her strength.” Amy explained herself while preheating the oven with one hand and stirring a pot with the other. Sonic got up to help, taking over soup duty. Amy smiled at him briefly, but with a sadness in her eyes. It was hard to be chipper when one of her friends was so badly hurt. Knuckles simply sat at the counter and waited. He felt useless. It was nice that Amy had found her own way to help, but Knuckles had already done all he could. He regretted not being able to save Rouge in that terrible moment. He wanted to go back in time and warn her earlier, get her on the ground safe next to him, maybe even make sure she hadn’t come along to fight at all. He would have preferred if he was the one who was cut down. At least he didn’t have wings, he couldn’t fly like Rouge could, he wouldn’t have been so affected by a back injury. Knuckles put his head down, resting it on his folded arms. The kitchen atmosphere was tense. They all waited to hear the news from the doctor.   
Finally, half an hour later, the doctor called everyone back into the main room. Rouge still couldn’t sit up, instead laying on her side with her back and wings newly bandaged. One of her wings was held at an angle with a rigid splint. She was obviously avoiding the eyes of her teammates as they all sat down to hear the medical verdict.   
“First, she’s going to be alright. With constant cleaning and changing the bandages, her wound will heal. She will most likely have a scar. Her left wing is another story.” That was the one in the splint. “The bone has been broken completely. She shouldn’t move it for about 3 months. Luckily it was a clean break, but one can never tell with wings... She might never fly again.”  
An unsettling silence fell over the room. They had known it would be bad, but hearing it said so surely made it so much worse. The doctor continued, addressing Vanilla with the instructions for her care. “Have her rest. I will return in two days to change the bandages, call me earlier if needed. Make sure she stays off her back.” He handed over some medical equipment and written instructions to Vanilla, and then he left. Nobody wanted to be the first to speak. Vanilla broke the silence.  
“Looks like you’ll be staying here for a while, Rouge. Please make yourself at home and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” She tried to sound cheerful. She stepped forward, taking the bloody sheets from Rouge’s makeshift bed carefully without moving the bat. She and cream hurried off to launder them and get new sheets.   
“Are you hungry, Rouge? I made some soup,” Amy piped up. Rouge answered quietly and succinctly, “yeah. I’m hungry.” Amy rushed to the kitchen to serve up the meal.   
Tails got up to take a closer look at her wing splint. “I’ve got an idea for a more comfortable healing apparatus,” he explained unnecessarily. He rushed out to catch the doctor with his idea, dragging sonic along with him. This left just Knuckles and Rouge in the room.   
Rouge looked at the floor, her eyes tired. She hadn’t moved the whole time. None of her usual spirit or feistiness was here. Knuckles stood up and walked closer to her, resting his hands on the side of her bedding.   
“Rouge,” was all he could bring himself to say. He couldn’t believe this was the same woman who had been so full of life just one hour ago. As if his simple statement had set it off, Rouge finally reacted. Her eyes filled with tears and her face broke into a deep grimace. Quickly she turned her face so it was buried in the provided pillow. Her shoulders shook with sobs as she cried. She wailed and screamed into the pillow, shaking all over.  
Knuckles wasn’t sure what to do. Admittedly emotional things were not his strong suit, but he felt so deeply for Rouge’s plight. He also felt slightly responsible as he watched her cry into her pillow so pitifully.   
At that moment Amy came bursting into the room with her bowl of soup fixed with a straw. Knuckles practically teleported back to his seat. Amy was much better with this stuff than he was, and he was relieved she was there.  
“Rouge! Oh dear, I know this is an awful time for you. I’m so sorry about your wing,” she began, setting the soup down on a nearby coffee table and rushing to Rouge’s side. Rouge turned her head and managed to quell her wailing in order to look Amy in the face. Amy started rubbing Rouge’s left shoulder soothingly, allowing her to sob while speaking calmly and softly. “You’re going to be alright. Your back is going to be fine. I know your wing is going to be fine. You’re going to do a wonderful job healing. I know you will.” She talked to Rouge in this manner until she had calmed down enough to speak.   
“Thank, thank you, A-Amy,” Rouge started shakily. The more she talked, the steadier she became. “It just, just sucks that I- I can’t move for weeks, and I can’t, can’t fly for even longer!” She took a deep breath. “And I won’t be able to help the team. How boring can it be to just stay at home while the boys go fight?” She finished strong. Amy smiled at her effort. “Trust me, it’s boring. But we can find something to do,” She reassured her friend, bringing the warm soup up to the bed for Rouge. She thanked Amy again, and Amy hugged her very carefully before stepping back into the kitchen to take the biscuits out of the oven. Rouge sipped her soup. Her eyes were still red, but at least they were moving again. They landed on Knuckles. She especially hated for him to see her like this. She had tried so hard up until now to be seen as cool and mature, and now that image was effectively ruined. But she also knew that he didn’t care about that. He was genuinely concerned about her.  
“Sorry you saw that.” Rouge focused on his face, trying to see how he would react. Knuckles was looking offhandedly at the wall behind Rouge.   
“It’s fine,” he replied, “of course you would be upset. It was way freakier when you didn’t cry.” What was wrong with him? Calling the patient freaky was not good bedside manner. He couldn’t think of a single decent thing to say about her plight. Nothing he thought of seemed sincere or important enough.   
“Yeah.” She looked pensive. “Thank you, knuckles. For carrying me here. Did it hurt?”  
A lot of things hurt. Truthfully, he ached in his arms, his legs, and his heart most of all. He couldn’t tell Rouge that. He had to keep a good face, “No, not at all, not nearly as much as you must be,” he assured her.  
“No, not from when you carried me,” Rouge replied, a ghost of a smile on her face. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”   
It took him a few seconds, but Knuckles laughed. Then Rouge laughed too, though she stopped quickly since it hurt too much. Maybe they could hope.


	2. Thank you so much, Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if... I just completely skipped over the injured and has to stay in bed timeline.,. With a time jump?

About a week later, Rouge had gotten her usual manner back. She was bored out of her gourd, and since Eggman hadn’t sent another robot yet, the whole team had plenty of time to fuss over her. She had to remind several people multiple times a day that she would be able to move around soon, and her back would be totally fine, and yes her bandages were comfortable, and no her splint was not painful. 

Sonic had supplied her with a large pile of comics. At least she was amused while confined to her bed. When she wasn’t reading, she would chat with Amy or whoever else came by to see her that time. Right now it was Amy.

“How did your date with Sonic go?” Rouge asked, smoothly referencing their outing just yesterday. Amy still blushed a little when the blue blur was mentioned. You’d think she would be over this. 

“It was just lovely! We picnicked in the meadow. He picked me a bouquet of wildflowers,” Amy gushed. She loved bragging about her famous boyfriend, and Rouge loved the background noise. Seeing Amy so lively made her feel better. 

Amy continued her mushy monologue. “So I used the flowers to make us crowns and he actually wore it! He did! I helped make our meal, of course, and he complimented all of it. He’s so sweet. Once we finished desert he held my hand when we walked home.”

“Wow! He did all that voluntarily?” Rouge interjected snakily. It was a stark contrast to how Sonic constantly avoided and brushed off Amy before their relationship started. 

Amy paused. “Well, he was a little hesitant, but he’s definitely just nervous since he likes me so much,” she asserted. To her, Sonic had no faults. “Anyway, that’s enough about us,” She resumed, “tell me about Knuckles.”

Rouge coughed. She didn’t expect that at all. 

“What do you mean, Knuckles?” She sputtered. Amy gave her a look that said ‘do you think I’m stupid?’

“He’s been visiting you so often. Even before you got hurt, you two were inseparable. You mean to tell me there’s nothing going on?” She said it so surely, placing a fist on her hip and staring Rouge down. All Rouge could do was laugh. 

“No, really. He just wants to make sure I’m alright, nothing romantic.” She paused, looking at Amy to gauge her reaction. Amy didn’t say anything, allowing Rouge to continue. “I think he feels like… like he should have saved me earlier. Like he could have prevented this from happening. Which is just ridiculous! Nobody could have reacted fast enough. Yes, it sucks to be unable to fly, stand up, or even move too much. But it sucks more that it’s not only impacting me. I can get painkillers for my injuries. So why does he have to be so hurt? It’s bringing down my mood! I wish he’d stop moping.” 

Amy nodded understandably. Her voice was soft when she spoke next. 

“That just goes to show how much he cares about you, right? It’s sweet of him.”

Rouge agreed halfheartedly. Just then the doctor came in and the girls were forced to halt their dialogue. Amy quickly left the room so Rouge could be examined in peace.

The doctor checked on her back wound first, then re-wrapped it. He also checked the cast alignment. While he worked, Rouge was lost in thought about what Amy had said. Could it be more than pseudo-guilt that kept knuckles coming back to visit? Was he finally starting to care about her as much as she cared about him? 

“Alright, you’re making good progress,” the doctor interrupted her thoughts. Rouge snapped her focus back to reality. “You can start walking around immediately. Stay off of heavy exercise and lay off your back, but everyday activities should be perfectly safe.” The doctor gave a rare smile. “I bet you’re excited to be up again, eh?” 

She could get up again! A wide grin spread across her face. Finally.  
Upon hearing this news, she swung upright and hopped off the bed. A small “woohoo!” escaped her.

“That’s better. Now your cast won’t need too much looking after, I will check on it in a month or two. Have a nice day,” the doctor cut his visit short. He was a busy man.  
“Honey, how did your doctor’s visit go?” Vanilla walked into the room and saw Rouge up. She gasped. 

“I can walk around again! My back’s 99% good and my wing just has to be in this stupid cast for a little bit more!” The explanation burst out of Rouge. She was dying to tell everybody the good news. Vanilla, overjoyed, wrapped her arms around Rouge’s shoulders in a motherly hug that was all too brief. Once Rouge was released, Vanilla gathered up her old bedsheets and went to launder them. 

The bat, left behind in her same old room, was stuck in thought about the hug for a few moments. She wasn’t exactly used to reassuring contact. She hadn’t had a mother figure for so long. It was weird how much closer she and Vanilla had become since she was stuck in her house, weird, but good. Rouge rushed out of the crusty old room to meet Amy just outside in the hall. Amy had much the same reaction Vanilla had, but this time Rouge was prepared for it and reciprocated the embrace. Amy smiled widely at her newly recovered friend. 

Soon the whole house knew about the commotion, then the teammates were called in so they could hold an impromptu party. For once, Rouge didn’t mind all the fuss. She was so relieved to be on her own two feet again. 

Everyone congratulated her, not that she had done anything extraordinary. Sonic seemed relieved that he didn’t have to act careful around her anymore. He had a terrible bedside manner. Tails was asking a thousand questions about what could be done to make her more comfortable and if her legs were alright after being motionless for days. Cream admitted she would miss having rouge in her home, but was happy she could return to her normal way of life. Knuckles said he was excited to have the old Rouge back again, but quickly covered the lovely sentiment with a gruff “the old, annoying, batty Rouge!” Although he couldn’t hide a smile. Everyone was smiling. It was a wonderful evening. They ate all of Rouge’s favorite foods and watched some of her favorite movies. The guest of honor herself stood through the whole thing; she’d had enough of sitting down! 

Once the festivities ended it was late at night. Moonlight illuminated the guests as they walked back to their own houses. Once all the other guests had left the house, Rouge turned to Vanilla and Cream. These two had kept her in their home and taken care of her every day for the past week. 

“Thank you so much. Really,” Rouge sighed. 

The rabbits smiled. “Anything for a friend, dear,” Vanilla replied. Cream added in “We were happy to do it!” 

“Well, goodbye.” With that, the last guest turned and walked out of their home.  
Rouge jumped when she saw an ominous silhouette just beyond the door! The light spilled from the open door, revealing the figure to be Knuckles. Rouge heaved a sigh of relief.  
“Knucky, you almost gave me a heart attack! Now wouldn’t be the best time for that,” she huffed, closing the door behind her. She glanced around, noting that nobody else was around. Knuckles must have been waiting for her. 

“Right, because you’re so frail. You can’t even fly and your legs are weak!” He scoffed, “you can’t defend yourself in this condition.” 

“Aww. How sweet. Is that your way of saying you’re going to escort me home?” Rouge accented the line with her signature sultry voice. She couldn’t tell for sure in the low light, but knuckles had probably gone red in the face. He turned and started walking away.  
Once knuckles had gotten a few meters ahead, he replied. “Well excuse me for trying to be considerate! I guess you don’t care if you get attacked by some wild animal or robot or something and get all hurt again, and then it’ll be my job to scrape you off the ground. Hah! See if I care.” He’d worked himself into a stomp at this point. Rouge walked calmly behind him.  
“Well I’d love for you to be considerate. For example, consider how you’re going to protect little old me if you’re a mile ahead?” She snarked. Knuckles stopped walking until she had caught up to him (she took her time getting there) and then resumed walking, by her side. They were both too tired to start up more banter. Their steps naturally fell in to match with each other. The pace was slower than usual to allow for Rouge’s legs. They were a bit shaky because she hadn’t used them in so long, and then stood on them for hours on end. At least she wasn’t wearing her heels. Her shoes and other belongings had been delivered to her own home earlier in the week, so she was going barefoot on the soft forest grass. Rouge looked around at the night scenery. It was amazing how she’d always taken the forest for granted. After a week of seeing the same room, everything seemed beautiful and extraordinary. The towering trees with rough, spiraling bark. The berry bushes with their muted colors. A cicada’s wings, a cricket jumping away from her. The occasional puddle left over from a forgotten rain. The way light breezes ruffled the dewy spiderwebs. The way the moonlight reflected off of Knuckles’ broad shoulders. 

Eventually she noticed that Knuckles kept glancing back at her. At first her heart jolted thinking that he might be seeing the same things, but she quickly brushed that off as ridiculous. Any hope of Knuckles reciprocating her feelings was abandoned long ago. The next time she caught him looking, she spoke up.

“What’s wrong? You can’t seem to keep your eyes off me,” she provoked him. He let out a single “Ha!” Then explained “I have to check that you’re not lagging behind! You’re as slow as a snail. I might have left you in the dust.” He paused for just a second. “I need to focus my eyesight forward, to navigate. So just hold on so I don’t have to check on you anymore!” Knuckles thrust his arm out with his palm up. Rouge was surprised, but placed her left hand in his right. He snapped his hand closed around hers, turned his head back to focus on the road, and just kept walking. Except now they were holding hands. Rouge didn’t want to ruin the moment by making a snide remark about it. She suspected that he was using an excuse to not look at her so he could blush in peace. If she made him too embarrassed now, he might let go, and she didn’t want that to happen. Though he had ordered her to hold on, he wasn’t leading forcefully or pulling her along. She walked slightly behind of her own volition so she could stare a little bit more.

He wore nighttime well. The bold red color of his fur was desaturated to a solemn crimson, except where the moonbeams hit to make a soft pinkish glow. The dramatic lighting accentuated his muscles nicely, especially when he moved his arms. His long quills swung hypnotically as he walked steadily along. Rouge had always liked night more than day. Now she had one more reason to.

Knuckles’ hand was so much bigger than hers. His hand surrounded hers gently. The warmth seemed to spread from her hand down her arm and sneak it’s way into her heart. The night air was cool, but Rouge’s hand and face were hot. She could feel her own heartbeat. They walked quite a distance with their hands entwined, in semi-awkward silence. Rouge’s hand twitched once; Knuckles immediately checked on her, then huffed and returned to his stoic position. Eventually she got used to holding his hand. Her face and heart stopped overreacting and she was able to see the scenery clearly again. Soon they would reach her home, safe and together.  
The scene really was flawless. So of course she had to sabotage it.

“See? I’m practically home, and nothing attacked me.” 

Knuckles replied quickly. “But something could have! I probably scared it off.”

“Face it knucklehead, the biggest scare anyone has had this evening was when you jumped me outside the door,” Rouge served back. The banter was on. 

“Jumped you? I was waiting for you. You got scared all on your own!”

“That’s rich! As if a hulking, shadowy figure wouldn’t be ominous. Maybe you should lay off the protein powder if you don’t want to be threatening!”

“...What makes you think I use protein powder?”

“Nobody has biceps that huge naturally, it’s freakish and frankly obvious,”

“Ha! Guess what, princess? No protein powder. Thanks for noticing, though.” 

That caught her off guard. She had outed herself for looking, and he was using a flirty tone he usually wouldn’t. She regained her composure soon enough.

“Hey, if men can ogle me, I can ogle men.”

“Is that what you call it? Creep.” Knuckles paused. Then his tone shifted. “What men are ogling you?”

By now Rouge had walked up enough to see his face. His eyes were cast down and his brows were stern.

“Strangers, mostly. I can’t go into town or to the store without unwelcome eyes.”

“They don’t even know you? What do they think you are, a free show?” 

“Would it be better if they did know me?” This challenge shut knuckles up for a moment. Rouge knew he couldn’t bear the thought of his friends and associates ogling women. 

“Well, nobody should be looking at you like that.”

“Hey, I agree. It’s not my fault I’m so head-turning. I just wish I could keep turning their heads— to break their necks.” Her tone was upbeat, but the joke was a cover for an issue that really did bother her. 

“You should! Honestly! Of all the cowardly, dirty, scummy things to do!” Knuckles was getting angry for her, and totally reading her mind. He kept up the rant, raising his voice. “I mean, you’re a hero now! You’ve helped us save the world plenty of times, been to space and alternate dimensions, beat down any threat imaginable. You’re one of mobius’s protectors! You’d think you would be notable for more than your figure. To overlook your contributions and skill and just look at you like an object, it’s disgusting, despicable, and lowly.” 

Rouge went ahead and filed those compliments away. Those would be sweet memories to reflect on later. “Exactly! If they’ve got nothing better to do, they could at least pretend to be honorable and ask for an autograph. I should get applause, not weird stares! I’m glad we agree on this.” Looking ahead, she could see her house and realized she was actually sad to get there. In her house she would be alone for the first time in a while. She enjoyed this walk with Knuckles, but it would soon end. 

Knuckles had seen the house too. He seemed glad for an excuse to change the subject.  
“Yeah. There’s your house, I’ll bet you’re glad to see it again!” He said behind a forced grin.  
Rouge’s house had been constructed after she became part of the team. It was a two-story deal with rustic appeal on the outside and a luxurious inside. It was surrounded by tall trees so it would be shaded from most daylight. Admittedly it was large for one person to live alone in, but it suited her extravagant tastes. 

The couple stopped walking just before the front steps and turned to face each other.  
“For sure. Thanks for walking me home.” It was lucky Rouge was a great actress or he might tell how disappointed she was. “Even though it was pointless, i liked the experience. Maybe if you acted like that all the time you’d have a girlfriend by now.”  
Knuckles rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, it wasn’t pointless because you’re safe. So it obviously worked.” He took a step back, leaving. Rouge was struck with some sort of guilt. She hated feeling guilty, so she exclaimed “Wait!”

Knuckles stopped moving and looked her in the eyes. 

“I shouldn't have ogled you earlier. Sorry,” after this line she broke eye contact and stared at her door instead. “If it makes you uncomfortable I won’t do it again.”

It took him a bit to respond. Finally he said “Good. Don’t do it again, creep. And definitely don’t tell me about it! Later.” 

That was the final word. He turned his back on Rouge and started the short walk to his own home on angel island. Rouge finally walked through her own doors. She was home at last.  
The large interior was mostly white. Big, cushy furniture filled the space and trophies lined any available walls, at least in the spaces without mirrors. Shiny and pretty things were everywhere you looked. Rouge let out a deep breath. 

As she collapsed onto her own fluffy bed, she had time for only one thought before drifting into a deep, exhausted sleep; _he was finally flirting back._


	3. all he did was leave a beautiful bouquet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Knuckles and Rouge have a lovely picnic, spiced up by some paranoia.

Rouge woke up around noon the next day. She sat up, recognizing her own room and smiling. Everything was exactly how she’d left it before she got hurt, and just how she liked it. Though the flowers on her bedside table were new.

There on the small white table was a brilliant bouquet of purple hyacinth, pink peonies, and blue hydrangea. At least the color choices matched her interior decorating. Rouge inspected the bouquet and surrounding area, but there was no note or even a simple name tag that could tell her who had left them. A bashful admirer, perhaps? She did have many admirers.   
A thought struck her. She had been so exhausted the night before that she may not be able to remember correctly, but… had these flowers been there before she fell asleep? Or did somebody place them there afterwards? The notion sent a shiver down her spine. Either way somebody had gotten into her house without her noticing. It was lucky this admirer didn’t seem to have any ill intentions. She would have to double check her security soon, because whether she agreed out loud or not, Knuckles was right; she couldn’t fight with her wings broken and her legs weakened. 

Rouge left the bouquet where it was and got ready for whatever was left of the day. She pulled a simple turquoise shift dress on, made a stop in the bathroom, then started heating up some leftovers for lunch. In every room she went through she checked the locks, and they worked just fine. While her lunch heated up she thought about how an intruder could have gotten in. All of the locks on the outside of her house were pick-proof, since Rouge was a master thief herself she knew what criminals could do and beefed up security, though apparently it hadn’t been enough. Only she and Amy had keys. Could the mystery giver be Amy? No, that was ridiculous; if Amy wanted to give Rouge flowers, she could have just handed them to her the night before. It probably wasn’t one of her friends borrowing Amy’s key either. 

Rouge’s house had many high-up windows. She loved to open them at night to let moonlight and fresh air in. But they were too high up for anyone to reach. The ones that were large enough for a person to fit through had locks. Only an agile, flexible child capable of acute flight would be able to get into the house without breaking something. 

The smell of burning food forced Rouge to snap out of her paranoia. Her lunch! She rushed over to the stove and pulled her meal off of it, but the damage had been done. Her leftovers were in the saddest state they’d ever been, burnt to blackness with an acrid smell wafting off of them. She had to put the poor food out of its misery and throw it away. 

A sigh escaped her. This was her first day back on her feet; it should have been good. So far it had only been disappointing and unnerving. Clearly her mind was somewhere else, so she decided to go outside and check her security before trying to cook something else. 

All of her door and window locks were just fine. There was no indication of forced entry or tampering. Rouge almost wished there was just to end this mystery. Of course she couldn’t check the high up and second floor entry points. She missed her flight already. Her surroundings popped out at her; there were plenty of tall trees close by. Maybe if she could climb one, she would be able to investigate further. 

That was the plan, but the execution would be much more difficult. She didn’t have much experience climbing trees since she could just fly to the top. Usually. It should be simple enough. Just find footholds and go, like scaling a cliff. So she tried— and slid back down to the ground after going about one foot. 

“Okaaay, you wanna be difficult? Geez,” she grumbled to herself as she got up to retry.

Rouge heard a stick crack somewhere, but assumed it was from the tree she was having issues with. 

“What are you doing, batgirl?” Okay, that voice definitely didn’t come from the tree. Rouge whirled around to see Knuckles staring at her, a look of bewilderment on his face. Great. Just what she needed today, to embarrass herself in front of her.. in front of Knuckles. 

“What does it look like, knucklehead? I’m trying to climb a tree. Sorry if my broken, recovering body couldn’t do so to your expectations,” Rouge huffed, gesturing angrily with her arms. Knuckles took a step back.

“Okay, and why do you need to climb a tree? That seems kind of intensive for someone who was released from their bedrest prison yesterday.” 

Rouge thought about it for a second. Should she really tell him, and make him worry about her? She decided yes. 

“I have to check my upper windows to see if any of them have been broken into,” she shrugged and talked as though this was a normal, everyday thing. “I think somebody broke into my house last night and all the other entrances were totally sealed.” This statement had the projected effect. A shocked expression came upon Knuckles, then it turned to determination. He walked closer and pushed Rouge away from the tree. 

“Hey, watch it!” She yelped. Knuckles ignored that and said “I’ll check them for you. You stay on the ground!” And with that he shimmied up the trunk. Rouge stared up at him for a few seconds before slumping down, sitting atop a nearby stump. It was amazing how quickly Knuckles had scaled the tree, but then again, he had way more practice than Rouge did. The forest was quiet and serene around her. She looked around, enjoying the dappled sunlight and lush greenery. Except one thing wasn’t greenery. A bit in the distance, barely visible behind some tall ferns, was something with a checkered pattern. Rouge glanced up to see that Knuckles was still in his perch, then she took off to investigate the foreign object. Once she passed the ferns, she could see the scene in its entirety.

A red checkered blanket laid on the grass. On the blanket were a picnic basket and quite a few wildflowers, which seemed to be scattered over the blanket randomly. Somebody has set this up recently judging by the freshness of the flowers, and they hadn’t opened the basket yet. Come to think of it, why had Knuckles come to her corner of the forest today? A smile spread across Rouge’s face. How romantic. 

Quickly she returned to her stump. Knuckles jumped down from the tree and found her in the exact same spot she had been in before. Rouge gave no indication that she had been snooping around. 

“So, any broken windows or damaged locks?” She asked seriously. Knuckles shook his head. “None of that, but one window was open. If I had to guess it was only a foot across. There are only two people I know who could have gotten through that.”

“Well one of them is obviously me, but who’s the other perp?” 

“Bokkun! Eggman’s annoying little messenger. Rouge, how did you know there was a break in? What tipped you off?” He exclaimed grimly, grabbing hold of Rouge’s shoulders. 

Rouge blinked. Of course it could have been Bokkun! Sometimes Knuckles surprised her with how smart he could be. Or maybe it was just that she’d missed the clues in her disoriented state. The flowers were probably a get well soon gift from Eggman. He had gone a little soft. It was just like him to not take credit for a good deed. 

“Rouge? Answer me!” Knuckles growled, his face inches from Rouge’s own. She had taken too long stewing in her thoughts again. She’d worried him over nothing.

“Oh! Nevermind, Knuckie. I was just being paranoid. If Eggman did send his crony over, all he did was leave a beautiful bouquet,” she tried to reassure him.

“Bouquet?” Knuckles’ eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“Yes, of flowers. Ever heard of them?” Rouge replied sarcastically. 

He didn’t reply immediately, just stared her down as if trying to divine whether she was telling the truth, his hands still clasped firmly on her shoulders. Rouge’s eyes wandered to his lips a few times before she quickly snapped them back to match his gaze. Time felt slower in that moment, when it must have lasted only a few seconds in reality. Finally Knuckles relaxed, took his hands off, stepped back, and sighed. 

“Why do you have to worry me like that? Idiot! If all he did was leave some flowers, don't act so serious about it!” He tried to sound stern but only succeeded in showing how relieved he was. 

“True, flowers aren’t threatening, but it does show a flaw in my security. I’ll need to fix that before someone more dangerous than Eggman can get in,” she explained in her most kid-friendly voice, as if she were explaining addition to a kindergartener. Knuckles crossed his arms and glared at her. Rouge laughed it off. 

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. This is what I get for helping you?” He pouted.

“Oh, but you are a child Knuckie. Itty bitty, only 16~” she teased. 

“Because you’re so mature—“

“Honey, I’m an adult—“ 

“You’re only 2 years older!” 

“Woe is me! Having to rely on a minor for protection and support!”

“Yeah, and I’ve got to look after an old lady!”

Rouge faked being offended. “Gasp! Is that how you speak to your elders? Where’s my whacking cane?” 

They both exploded into laughter! Their voices overlapped, creating a harmony more beautiful than any symphony. They teased each other jokingly like this all the time. It helped them blow off steam. This fit of laughter served to clear the tension from the breakin talk. Once the giggles subsided, they were able to talk normally again.

“So I’d better borrow a ladder from Tails.” Rouge started.

“WE’d better go, no way can you carry a ladder all the way here and then back to return it. I guess I could help you out a little more,” Knuckles asserted, grinning. 

Rouge, remembering the picnic basket, said “alright but I’m not walking that far before eating. I haven’t even had breakfast yet. I guess I’ll have to go back in and cook myself something…” she trailed off. A red hue moved into Knuckles’ cheeks.

“Actually… The whole reason I came over here was to deliver some food to you. This is perfect, you haven’t eaten yet!” He admitted readily to the charge. Rouge was surprised, he was really going to own up to the fact that he’d done something just for her? Then he continued, “Amy sent me over with it, said she had something to do so she couldn’t give it to you herself.” Oh, so that was his angle. Of course, Knuckles the Echidna is never soft, he was ’just doing a favor for a friend’. 

Yet it would be so like Amy to actually set this up. Rouge could see the scene in her mind— Amy waltzes up with a picnic basket, a conniving smile on her face, and tells Knuckles she has simply too much to do to waste time bringing lunch to her poor friend Rouge, and would he pleaseee go deliver the lunch, because it would mean so much to her. She would compliment him and say how sweet and kind he is and how surely he would be able to perform this important task. 

Rouge didn’t know how to feel about that. If Amy had set it up, that meant she was trying to cheer Rouge up, but it also meant that Knuckles really hadn’t had much to do with it besides being a delivery boy. But if Knuckles was lying to cover his involvement, that meant Amy had been thrown under the bus and Knuckles wasn’t going to admit that he set up such a nice thing for Rouge, as if he was ashamed of her. Knuckles wasn’t the type to lie, especially about his friends, so option number one was looking the most plausible. All of this flashed through Rouge’s mind in seconds, while she decided how to react. 

“Really? But I don’t see any food around here. Did you forget it at Amy’s?” She accused, looking around dramatically in supposed search. 

“No! I set it up close by. Just follow me,” Knuckles started walking toward the tall ferns and motioned for her to do the same. She pretended to be clueless and followed with small steps. As he led the way, Knuckles held the fern fronds aside to let Rouge see the full view for (what he thought was) the first time. 

There it was again: the sunlight turned green as it filtered through the overhead tree cover, slightly altering the red on the checkered blanket. There were the wildflowers that Amy couldn’t have had a say in. They were scattered too messily and the flowers were too fresh. At least Rouge had reassurance that one part of this picnic was entirely Knuckles’. She walked toward the blanket and kneeled next to the basket. Opening the top, she was able to see the food inside.

There were sandwiches, a family-sized bag of chips, a couple apples, and two iced bottles of pink lemonade. It wasn’t fancy, but it was perfect for a casual forest picnic. She was hungry, so she took one of the sandwiches and started chowing down. Her companion chuckled and sat down across from her, taking the remaining sandwich. They didn’t talk for a while as they were busy eating. They also took the opportunity to appreciate their surroundings. Rouge caught Knuckles gazing at her a few times when she wasn’t focused elsewhere. It was the kind of look one would give scenery, comfortable but interested. After they finished the main course, Rouge stretched to reach and open the chip bag, and once she had a hold on it she switched sitting positions to be criss-cross-applesauce. 

“Hey, you’re not going to hog those, are you?” Knuckles objected, reaching over to grab them back. Rouge held them over her head before he could, laughing as he missed them completely. Knuckles shuffled over on his knees (not standing up completely). For a few moments their arms waved wildly above, repeatedly becoming entangled only to release the next second. The chips bag evaded capture! 

Knuckles’ hand finally pushed the bag away definitively, and it landed a few feet away. Rouge pushed him away to get a head start, but he pushed her right back. They wrestled until Knuckles finally grabbed the bag and won. He stood up in triumph! 

Rouge huffed in defeat, but smiled nonetheless. She was out of breath and her arms stung a little bit. She realized Knuckles had avoided touching her wings or pushing her completely over. He was able to make the wrestle fun without bothering her wings, back, chest, or legs. He liked to pretend he was rough, but he was being extremely careful and considerate.   
Knuckles sat back down farther away from Rouge to enjoy his prize. 

She started up some small talk. They wound down from their high-energy tussling to a calm chat about inconsequential things. The weather. The nearby plants. Rouge brought up the wildflowers. “Amy surely didn’t come with you to spread these flowers then leave in a rush, did she?” She teased. Knuckles beamed. “Actually, these were my idea,” his grin dimmed slightly, “but if I’d known Eggman already gave you some, I wouldn’t have bothered.” 

“Don’t be like that, it was sweet of you to decorate. At least you can give a girl flowers without breaking into her house,” Rouge countered. 

They didn’t dwell on the subject. The conversation moved on to Angel Island, actual angels, which mythical creatures they each believed in, whether or not aliens were cryptids, and finally crazy conspiracy theories. By now the food was all gone, but they stayed sitting together on the blanket. Over the course of the talking they had inched closer together until finally, though they’d started on opposite sides, their legs were nearly touching. They laughed as they tried to outdo each other with contrived conspiracies.

“What, you believe in the moon? That’s just a coverup story for the huge hole the government made in the sky,” Rouge exclaimed.

“You believe in the government? Everyone knows that’s just a coverup for the literal puppet officials. The world is really run by two sentient muppets,” Knuckles gestured wildly for effect.

“The muppets aren’t sentient, they’re controlled by the Chaotix!”

“Sonic is really 10 newts in a trench coat!”

“You’re actually a mound of termites with a mask.”

“Oh no, I’ve been found out! Well I’ve discovered that you’re a wheel of stinky cheese in a discounted Dracula Halloween costume.” 

A buzzing sound reached the pair’s ears. Rouge looked around for the cause, her hearing being much keener than Knuckles’, but couldn’t see anything.

“You heard that, right?” She turned to Knuckles and he nodded. 

“It sounded mechanical,” he affirmed. 

“That’s strange… Maybe Bokkun returned to make sure I’d received the gift. Either way, I don’t like it, let’s hurry to get that ladder.” Rouge stood up, immediately walking to where she heard the noise from. She couldn’t see anything except greenery. It really did unnerve her. She hurried back to Knuckles’ side. He had collected the picnic supplies and was ready to go. Rouge entwined her arm with Knuckles’ and took the basket to carry. The pair did a second visual check for threats or robots and left for Tails’ house.


	4. A Perfect Day Beyond Compare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tails helps out, Knuckles is obviously into Rouge, and Rouge is plagued with a new problem.

“Hello! Is the engineer in?” 

The call came at an inopportune time for Tails, considering he was laying on his back underneath a ton of aeronautic machinery. Tails set down his tools and rolled out from under his airplane, which he had been doing some upgrades on. He trotted to the door and opened it to his visitors. Knuckles and Rouge stood on his doorstep. They were both looking tired.  
“Uh, hey guys! What’s up?” Tails greeted, somewhat awkwardly.

“I was-“ Rouge began, but started over once Knuckles gave her the side-eye— “We were wondering if WE could borrow a big ladder.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be taking it easy? What would you need a ladder for?” He asked incredulously. Rouge rolled her eyes, annoyed she had to retell the story, but retell it she did.

“One of my second story windows is open and I need to close it before Bokkun comes in uninvited again. He did that last night, by the way. Don’t worry. Knuckles here will be my minion for the day so I won’t be climbing it myself.” This being said, Rouge leaned against Knuckles to emphasize her temporary dependence on him. Tails’ eyebrows slanted upwards in a worried expression. He quickly offered his help to the two visitors. 

“Sure I have a ladder! Come in and I’ll get it.” Tails opened the door wide and they stepped inside his house. Well, they called it a house, but it was more like a workshop with a bed in the corner. Every available surface had something metal on it— tools, half-finished projects, stray parts, computers. The walls were covered in shelves filled to the eaves. There were books on any engineering or robotics subject. Rouge had been here many times before, but every time she visited she was shocked at how disorganized the place could get. Tails insisted he knew where everything he needed was, but to the untrained eye it was really a mess of metal. After a bit of shuffling around, Rouge found a loveseat under a couple pipes and sat down. Knuckles stayed standing. Tails had walked outside. Presumably that was where he kept the extra large ladders. 

“I’m surprised he keeps the ladder outside. It would fit right in with his interior decorating,” Rouge mused aloud. Knuckles let loose a small laugh. 

“Now don’t be snarky, he’s doing you a favor. You better thank him,” He replied.

“I know that, I’m not five.” Rouge pouted.

Tails poked his head through the door, hovering. “Knuckles, could you help me with the ladder? It’s a little too heavy.” Knuckles left to assist. 

While they were gone, Rouge thought about the day’s events so far. She had discovered a break in and made Knuckles worry about it, but the only thing that was left was a lovely bouquet. Only a villain or a stranger would go to the trouble of delivering it that way. Why hadn’t they just left it by the door? If it was Bokkun who did it, she knew how to deal with him… But what if it hadn’t been Bokkun? 

Rouge shook the thought out of her head. There was no point worrying about it now. Soon the window would be closed, and she wasn’t in danger over a bouquet. 

“Rouge! We’ve got the ladder, come on out.” Knuckles’ voice brought her back into focus and Rouge stood up to leave. Just outside she saw Knuckles and Tails double-teaming the ladder, one supporting each side. 

“Time to leave already? That hardly seems amicable!” She exclaimed sarcastically.

The sarcasm seemed to go over the others’ heads. “Actually I was working on my new airplane when you came by. I would love to get back to work on it,” Tails assured her. 

“We can’t impose on Tails more than we already have,” grumbled Knuckles. 

Rouge rolled her eyes and continued walking toward them. She grabbed hold of Tails’ end of the ladder. Knuckles was about to say something but she cut him off— “it’s my wings that are broken, not my arms! I can carry the ladder home, especially with your help.” She relieved Tails of his position supporting the ladder. Tails seemed relieved and softly landed on the ground. A thought struck him.

“Actually! Sorry, can you stay here a bit longer? You can set the ladder down,” Tails rushed back into the house. Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other and placed the ladder on the grass. Tails came back out quickly, holding a strange apparatus in his arms. He was beaming with excitement. 

“This is your new and improved cast!” Tails told Rouge as if this was a sales pitch, “It has rigid splint-like areas to hold your bones in place while they heal correctly, but this cast has something others don’t; hinges! They act like joints!” Tails showed his invention off. It looked like a big, cushioned wing. It had purely-cast sections for each wing bone, but mechanical hinges to situate them. It was all held together by a stretchy material similar to spandex and it separated into two parts, front and back, for easy application. Rouge was impressed, but couldn’t stop skepticism from crossing her mind. 

“I know what you’re thinking— should you really be moving joints when your bones are broken? Well I talked to the doctor and he okayed my invention since the actual cast part is sturdy. Your bones shouldn’t be bothered, but you can move your wing around using this remote that controls the mechanical hinges,” he explained further while he handed Rouge a silver remote with a simple wing graphic and dials on it..

Rouge turned one of the dials, and the corresponding joint on the machine moved. She smiled.

“Why Tails, this is wonderful. You’re a genius,” she gushed. 

“Thank you!” Tails blushed a little at being complimented. 

“Are you kidding? I should be the one thanking you! This will be so helpful, it’s amazingly sweet of you to make this,” she cried. A deep affection for Tails was spreading over her. “Could I… Is it possible this will let me fly?” She choked.

“Oh no! No, it’ll just be more comfortable,” Tails replied quickly. Rouge was a little disappointed, but this new cast was still more than she could have asked for. 

Knuckles cut into the conversation. “Are you going to try it on right now?” He asked.

“I’d better, since Tails is right here and he can show me how to do it correctly,” Rouge decided.

“Okay, but we’ll have to go back inside to change your cast, I’ve got to do this on a table. Knuckles, do you mind staying out here?” Tails agreed, then queried. 

Knuckles seemed confused by the request, but agreed. He stayed outside while Rouge and Tails found a clean table inside to switch casts on. 

It was a relatively quick process. They cut off the old cast, making sure Rouge was resting her wing and wouldn’t move it, then enclosed the new mechanical one over it and they were done. Rouge was glad she’d chosen to wear a backless dress so she didn’t need to take anything off during the process. Tails had Rouge test out how it felt moving the joints and it was fine, no pain or anything. The new cast was even lighter than the old stiff one, being made partly from fabric. Once everything was sorted out Rouge hopped off of the table. 

“By the way Tails, why did Knuckles have to wait outside for that?” Rouge asked.

“The patient needed to be completely calm during the procedure,” came the reply, “and if Knuckles was in here he would have distracted you.”

“Is that a comment on me or him? Does that mean I’m obsessed with him or he’s distracting?” Rouge challenged lightheartedly. 

Tails offered no further comment, simply leading the way back outside. Knuckles perked up from his assumed position slouching on the grass. He got up to examine the new cast and see it move, expressing his awe and respect for Tails as he saw the machine in action. Tails accepted the compliments graciously. 

Then Knuckles asked to see the new plane Tails had been working on. So the boys walked back into the workshop, leaving Rouge to guard the ladder this time. She sighed and slumped down next to the item. As she waited for Knuckles, she tested the new cast again. It was really amazing that such a thing existed, and her friend had invented it. Although she still wouldn’t be able to fly with it, at least it wouldn’t be like having a plank of wood attached to her back like the last one. 

It didn’t take Knuckles and Tails very long to check out the plane, they were back outside within a few minutes. They were both grinning from ear to ear. Rouge almost wished she’d gone in with them to see the plane, because apparently it was awesome. But they couldn’t stay much longer, they’d already spent too long with Tails and they had to get back and close that window. The two visitors said goodbye and thank you to their gracious ladder-lender and turned back on the route to Rouge’s home. 

Not much conversation passed between them since they were walking at opposite ends of their prize. The forest was as gorgeous as ever. Rouge kept flexing her wings for fun along the way. It’s was invigorating to move them again. 

Once they made it back to her house, it was sunset. Rouge and Knuckles set the ladder up against the house and Knuckles climbed up. The offending window was shut, and they added a simple padlock as a precaution until Rouge could get a better one. He jumped back to the ground. 

“Thank you,” Rouge said sincerely, making eye contact. Knuckles was a bit taller than her so she had to look up. It felt strange not to wear high heels.

“That’s it? No witty one-liner?” Knuckles raised an eyebrow. 

“No, I’m genuinely grateful. Though I could come up with a quip if you wanted me to,” she replied. 

“Oh. Well as long as we’re being sincere, I hope you stay safe, and you can call me for help with anything.” His hands twitched.

“Anything? Okay, I need help getting a boyfriend,” she saw the chance and took it. 

Knuckles paused for a second, then burst into laughter. “There goes the moment! That’s so you,” he exclaimed, turning to pick up the ladder. Rouge pouted while he was turned away. He still didn’t take her seriously. 

"Man, too bad I had to help you all day. If I was on angel island right now I would be watching the most amazing sunset," he mourned, unprompted. 

"Sorry for inconveniencing you. Won't the sunset be the same every day?" Rouge replied half heartedly. 

"You're right, there's always tomorrow, I just hate to miss one," he had picked up the ladder and was ready to leave. "I can carry this back to Tails myself. I'll see you later." 

"Alright. Be careful to get home before dark," Rouge told him. 

"I will." Knuckles seemed to hesitate. Then he pointed to the side, into the woods. "Do you see that?" He asked in a low voice. 

Rouge turned her head to look where he had pointed. "See what? I don't—" she felt something warm on her cheek. Surprised, she whirled back around to find Knuckles' face had moved very close to her. He had kissed her cheek. 

Immediately he turned away, picked up the ladder, and walked briskly away. He called over his shoulder, "bye until tomorrow!" 

Rouge was rooted on the spot. Her face was burning, especially her cheek. The one he had kissed. He'd never done that before. He had initiated a few hugs, but never a kiss. She felt she could have melted with happiness. 

That day she had been given flowers, had a picnic with Knuckles, visited Tails, gotten a new cast that let her move her wings, and been kissed. It was a perfect day beyond compare.  
She practically skipped into her house. She hummed and danced while making dinner (which she didn't burn), twirled around picking out pajamas, and sang full blast in the shower. Finally she curled into her blanket, completely content and extremely comfortable with her new cast.  
She began drifting to sleep... until she heard a mechanical sound. Now that she had settled down she could hear it. Her eyes jumped open, but she gave no other indication that she was awake. That was the same sound she had heard in the clearing during her picnic with Knuckles. A whirring, but very muffled. If she wasn't a bat she might not have heard it at all. The sound came from behind her. She always kept a pocket mirror on her. Slowly, so that from behind it would seem not to happen at all, she raised the mirror up so she could see behind her. 

What little light there was shone off of a red camera lens. A small drone, most of its body being a button camera, was hovering vaguely behind her. She assumed it was recording her in her supposed slumber. 

What could she do? Thinking quickly, biding her time by seeming motionless, she hoped the drone wasn't equipped with microphones and ripped a square off her bedsheet. The mirror showed her that the drone didn't move; it must not have had audio abilities. Quick as a flash, she rolled over and threw the square of fabric over the thing's camera. Now that it couldn't see her, she grabbed it and tied the fabric securely so the camera was essentially useless. It was tiny, the size of a coat button. Somebody was trying to spy on the ultimate spy. 

Rouge didn't crush the robot, as much as she wanted to; maybe it could lead her to whoever was trying to get intel on her. She carried the machine, bundled in her sheet section, to the main living room where she locked it in her wall safe. She would let it stew there while she slept for real. If she let it out it would probably just keep recording her and her house, so Rouge thought she would let it run out of battery first. Then she would take it to Tails and see if he could trace the owner. Maybe if she recharged it and let it loose, the drone would fly back to the owner itself. As she finished locking the safe, she strained her ears for more noises. Nothing came except the usual nighttime fare; crickets, owls, rustling leaves. Nothing out of place. 

She was exhausted. Rouge trudged back to her room. Twice now strange intruders had gotten in. She gulped. The room no longer felt like hers. It seemed cold and strange. 

She took the blanket off her bed, locked the door behind her, and went to the living room instead. There she had a large couch. She laid down there, keeping one eye on her wall safe until she fell into an uneasy sleep.


	5. They had been Planning this for Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so let’s shove the previous chapter under the rug. Tails takes Rouge on an airplane ride and Knuckles watches the sunset with her.

Rouge woke up to a knock on her door. She sat up groggily, at first confused as to why she was on the couch instead of her comfortable bed. She quickly remembered the events of last night, when she had found a camera drone in her room and thrown it in her wall safe. A quick glance told her that the safe was secure. 

She got off the couch and walked down the hallway to open the door.

“Who could be bothering me at such an early hour?” She grumbled, mostly to herself, as she pulled it open.

“Early hour? It’s nearly two in the afternoon!” Knuckles, greeting her with crossed arms, exclaimed incredulously. 

“Sorry to wake you up,” Tails lamented, standing next to Knuckles on the doorstep.   
“Really? Two in the…” Rouge looked up, seeing that the sun was high above her. It was definitely after noon. “Oh, sorry. I’m disoriented, I had kind of a late night. Why are you two visiting?” 

The boys smiled brightly and moved aside. Past them was Tails’ new plane. The sun glistened off of it promisingly. 

“I call this beauty the T.T. SkyBlaze! Er, no relation to Blaze the Cat,” Tails introduced the machinery.

“What does T.T. stand for?” Rouge asked.

“TOTALLY TUBULAR!” The boys exclaimed together. They high-fived. 

Rouge giggled— seeing them in such high spirits lifted her own. She stepped outside to inspect the aircraft. It was wonderfully shiny, on par with high quality jewels. Rouge ran a hand over its smooth surface. The body was reflective of its surroundings, green and yellow from the forest, and the wings were glossy blue. The overall shape was pointy. It certainly seemed aerodynamic. 

“Well done, Tails. She’s a beauty,” Rouge called over her shoulder. 

He smiled and agreed, but then told her “we didn’t just come here to show it to you. How would you like to ride on it?”

“ON it? Not IN it?” 

“Nope! I can pilot while you sit on the wing; this way you can feel the wind and have a 360 view on your ride.” 

So that’s why Tails and Knuckles had been so smiley, even the day before. They had been planning this for her. They stared at Rouge with expectant and excited looks on their faces. She looked away. Not because she was unappreciative, but because she was tearing up. They had done so much for her. Before this whole incident, she hadn’t been particularly close with the sonic crew except for Knuckles. But now she knew how much they would do for her in a pinch; she could see their love for her in their every action and word. Cream housing her for so long. Amy talking to and supporting her. Sonic keeping her entertained. Tails making sure she was comfortable and happy. Knuckles protecting her so closely. It came rushing over Rouge in a wave, and she couldn’t speak for a few seconds. She loved them all. They were her friends.

“Don’t be worried, I have a seat belt attachment for the wing,” Tails misinterpreted her silence as hesitance. 

“A seat belt, how nice,” Rouge finally responded, “I would be delighted to take a ride with you.” Remembering the drone from the earlier night, she continued “but first would you let me get dressed, eat, you know, freshen up?” 

“Not our fault you didn’t get up at a decent hour,” Knuckles said, which was his way of saying yes.

“Of course! We don’t have anything else planned today,” Tails affirmed. So Rouge went back into her house.

The first stop she made was the wall safe. She entered the combination and checked if the little drone was still moving. It was, but it still couldn’t see so it was hovering aimlessly. Rouge was a little grateful it hadn’t run out of battery yet; that meant she could have a lovely day out with her friends without weighing it down and worrying them with the grim events of last night. They had done enough for her already and she didn’t want to bother them with this situation. 

Right then Rouge decided she would deal with this herself. She wouldn’t tell anyone about the camera drone. She was smart enough to track this stalker down herself, and surely she was strong enough by now to kick the living daylights out of any nerd who sent a tiny robot to do their dirty work. 

Once the safe was shut again, she rushed to get dressed (jeans today) and eat a granola bar for brunch, getting done and back outside as fast as she could. 

“I’m ready to go!” Rouge called. Tails looked up from attaching the stupid-looking seatbelt to one of the wings. She trotted up to the plane but hesitated once she reached it. The wing was above her head, and she couldn’t fly to get up there like Tails could. Knuckles motioned to get her attention.

“Need a lift?” He asked, arms outstretched. She replied, “obviously.” 

Knuckles grabbed her by the waist and lifted her easily into the air. It startled her a bit! It was easy to forget just how strong Knuckles was. A giggle escaped her. 

Now that she could reach the wing, Rouge pulled herself up and found a comfortable sitting position. 

Tails had already entered the cockpit and was ready to go. He looked at Rouge expectantly.  
She sighed and fastened her seatbelt. 

Knuckles made a motion at Tails, then got out of the aircraft’s way. The path to Rouge’s home became a runway as the plane started its ascent. As they drove over the forest floor, it was a bumpy ride, and the first few feet in the air were rough.

Rouge looked down during takeoff to watch the ground rushing below her. Soon she saw the forest getting smaller and the tops of trees as the TT SkyBlaze flew into open air. The seat belt was off of her quickly. 

She gasped and laughed; the sights were beautiful looking down. The earth rushed below her and the wind buffeted her face, but she didn’t dare close her eyes. She didn’t want to miss a second of this precious gift. 

Eventually she switched focus from the ground to the sky around her. Open and blue, surrounding her in the way it always had. They were still under the cloud cover. Rouge caught Tails’ attention and motioned for him to fly higher. Tails opened the side window a crack to hand her an oxygen mask, then obliged. 

The airplane ascended through the clouds. For a few moments Rouge was assaulted with wet, thick white fog. No matter; she would dry out quickly in the sun and the wind. Finally they poked up above the clouds. Suddenly there was no ground and no forest; only dreamy fluffy white clouds for miles. Rouge relished in the sight. She loved it all. 

They soon went back below the clouds. Next they flew over the lake, and then the beach. Sunlight glistened off the water. Rouge could see Amy and Sonic having a beach day below. Sonic waved at the plane. Rouge wondered if he knew she was up there as well as Tails. 

It didn’t seem like it, but their ride had lasted many hours. It was 7 o’clock by the time Tails opened the side window again to let her know he would be landing soon. They touched down on a clear stretch of Angel Island. 

“Whew! What a trip!” Tails exclaimed, climbing out of the cockpit and onto the wing where Rouge was. He flew her gently to the ground. It was nice to be back on the ground, but Rouge wished she could spend just a while longer in the sky. She loved it so much.

“Thank you so much, Tails. I had a wonderful time, everything was gorgeous!” She gushed. Tails smiled shyly.

“Oh, it was Knuckles’ idea. I needed to test drive the SkyBlaze anyway,” he replied humbly. “Now I have to go home for dinner. It was great to be your chauffeur for the day!”

“What? You’re not staying here?” Rouge asked, surprised. 

“Nope,” he flew back into the plane as he spoke. 

“Had enough of me, so you’re stranding me here. Got it,” She joked, winking to make sure he got that it was all in fun. 

He laughed. “Knuckles said he had more planned for you today. He can take you home afterwards.”

“Something else? Give me a hint, what is it?”

“No idea! Have a nice night, Rouge.”

“You too, Tails.”

With that, the TT SkyBlaze and Tails were gone. 

Rouge turned around and started walking towards Knuckles’ house. She wondered why he hadn’t met them at the drop off. But then she chided herself— he didn’t have to do everything for her convenience. 

Barely 100 meters away, she found Knuckles sitting on a tree stump, head resting on one of his palms. He had come to meet her after all, he was just giving her an opportunity to talk with and say goodbye to Tails first. He stood up when Rouge came close. 

“Glad to see you’ve made it in one piece! How did the flight go?” He inquired. Knuckles didn’t stand still to talk to her, he immediately walked with her the direction she had been going, falling into step beside her.

He lead their path as she told him all about her scenic trip. Once she had finished gushing about all the sights, they had reached a clearing right on the edge of the island. The sun was just beginning to set. 

“Come sit with me,” he beckoned as he seated himself right on the edge, feet dangling.   
“Well, if you insist,” Rouge sat beside him, but not too close. 

They looked out at the sky. It had begun to turn orange, with a band of pink at the horizon. The cloud cover above reflected the warm colors. 

Rouge sighed. Her mind was free to wander while she looked at the beautiful sight. She reflected on the airplane ride. Her friends. The endless sky. The wind in her hair. 

Soon the sky was bright pink. The light made everything more aesthetic. A cool breeze rushed past the pair. 

Knuckles shivered. He looked over at Rouge.

“It’s getting cold,” he started. “To think it was so hot earlier.”

“I wouldn’t know. I felt breezes colder and tougher than that today,” Rouge commented, boasting a little. Knuckles got up, and when he returned he brought a blanket. He extended a corner towards Rouge. She took it and wrapped her half around her shoulders. Knuckles sat back down beside her, close enough to share the blanket. Their arms and legs were touching.   
Rouge, content after the wonderful experiences of the day, snuggled a little closer, resting her head on his shoulder. Knuckles’ face emanated heat. 

They stayed like that, watching the sun set. The sky gradually faded from orange to pink, then purple to dark blue. The first stars were coming out when Knuckles finally interrupted their positions. 

He shrugged Rouge’s head off of him, then stood up and stretched. 

“It’s gotten late. We need to get you home,” he said, looking down at her. 

Oh yeah, home. Rouge thought about her house. The cold and strange house, extremely lacking in sweet echidnas and all too occupied by suspicious spy bots. She did not want to go back. She would have to convince Knuckles to let her stay with him. 

“Isn’t it much too late for me to be walking through the woods?” Rouge asked quietly. She stood up too, and walked away from the edge of the island. 

“That’s why I would escort you,” Knuckles rolled his eyes. 

“I mean… I’ve had a long day. I think I’m too exhausted to walk all the way there.”   
Knuckles raised one brow. He wasn’t buying it.

Okay, so she was going to have to act. They didn’t call her a master of manipulation for nothing. 

“You’re right, I’ve imposed on you too much already,” she sighed, “let’s start going.”

She began walking in the direction they were meant to go, but made sure to drag her feet. Knuckles followed a little behind. 

Rouge hunched her shoulders and let her ears fall wearily. She really was tired, she just had to let it show more obviously. Since she was going so slowly, Knuckles caught up to her quickly and gave her a quizzical look. Now that he could see her face, she yawned; but made care to stifle it quickly so it would seem genuine, and not like she was acting it up. Her eyelids drooped. She was so caught up in her acting that she really didn’t notice the rock in her path. The rock caused her to stumble!

A strong arm caught her before she face planted on the unforgiving earth. 

“You really are exhausted! How could you be tired, we just sat down for like an hour, holy cow.” Knuckles complained, but there was a worried tone in his voice. Rouge, a bit shaky over her fall but grateful it had worked in her favor, looked up at Knuckles’ face. He was wide-eyed and his brow was furrowed. Rouge made some doe eyes and told a bold-faced lie.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t want to take advantage of your generosity any longer. Please let me go back home, I can make it!” The trick with Knuckles was to say the opposite of what she wanted. He was so contrary and stubborn. Luckily she’d learned this long ago and could use it to her liking. 

“No way. You couldn't make it three more steps! You can stay at my place tonight. Just because it’s the closest house!” He clarified, pulled her back into a standing position,  
Yes! She was almost there. Just a bit more drama. 

“But are you sure that’s okay?” She asked meekly, to solidify his resolve.

“Sure I’m sure. You’re staying with me and that’s final,” he exclaimed. He held onto her arm as they made their way to his place, which was extremely close by.

Rouge didn’t let him see the evil grin that crossed her face. Her plan had worked beautifully. This was going to be a story for her future autobiography. 

Knuckles’ house was more of a shack. He didn’t need a fancy house, seeing as he spent most of his time babysitting the master emerald even if he was asleep. The house was a simple kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room. There wasn’t even a bedroom or a closet. One would call it minimalist if they didn’t know this was all Knuckles owned. The whole structure was made of rough wood, though the floor and walls had some lovely rugs covering them. It had ‘rustic charm’.

Knuckles led Rouge to the couch and let her lay back on it. He got her a blanket, which she gladly accepted, and then wandered away into the kitchen.

Rouge liked his house. It was very different from her own, but it was honest. 

Now that she had successfully secured a sleepover at Knuckles’, she relaxed and let herself smile. She’d never been allowed to stay the night here before. Knuckles always got edgy and made her go home immediately if she brought up overnight stays. Once she had mentioned them two seconds after she arrived just to test this, and got kicked out faster than sonic could have run out. This broken wing was proving to be an ally of hers. 

Knuckles came back out of the kitchen carrying some cold fruit from his fridge. He sat on the edge of the couch where Rouge’s legs were.

“I know it’s not much of a dinner, but it’s the fastest thing to prepare and you need to get to sleep soon,” he explained, handing her a mango. 

It was better than nothing, and delicious. It was even better considering she hadn’t eaten since her rushed breakfast. 

Once dinner was done they brushed their teeth, Rouge using a spare toothbrush that Knuckles had. 

Finally the pair settled down, Rouge on the couch, Knuckles curled up on a nearby chair.   
Though her exhaustion was an act, Rouge fell asleep quickly, feeling warm and safe.


	6. A Pseudo-Therapy Session with Sonic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rouge wakes up at Knuckles’ house but has to leave and face reality sometime. So she picks up the mystery of the stalker-bot herself and investigates in the town. There she runs into Sonic. The whole thing falls apart.

The bright yellow light of the early morning sun awoke Rouge. Groggily she sat up, pushing her borrowed blanket aside. There she was, in Knuckles’ house. She looked to the nearby chair and saw that Knuckles was still fast asleep. He looked so peaceful, his expression carefree— nothing like his usual furrowed brow and perpetual frown. 

Rouge got up off the couch. She folded the blanket neatly and set it atop the cushions. As long as she was a guest here, she would be a good one. After taking a quick closer look at Knuckles, she walked into the kitchen. She intended to make some breakfast, but she didn’t find many ingredients. The fridge had plenty of fruits and vegetables, but it was low on almost everything else. There was at least a quart of milk. Maybe she could make some breakfast smoothies? 

Closing the fridge, she went on searching the cabinets for a blender and any other food. She found her prize quickly; a hand blender that either ran on batteries or had lost its cord. Just as well. She could take this outside to blend, no sense in waking her gracious host up so brashly. She gathered her smoothie ingredients and cups, then snuck out the convenient door from the kitchen right outside. 

Everything went smoothly and she soon had two delicious smoothies prepared. Peach raspberry for him, mango orange for her. She brought everything back inside. There was a side table in front of the chair Knuckles was in, so Rouge set his breakfast on it, then went back to the kitchen to put the ingredients away and clean the blender. 

She stepped back outside to enjoy the scenery while she drank her own smoothie. It was pretty early, just after sunrise by the angle of the sun; the sky was pale yellow and blue. All around were the gorgeous evergreens and fruit trees of angel island. Somewhere, birds sang boldly. It was beautiful. She was glad to have the opportunity to sleep over with Knuckles. “Rouge? Where are you?” The slightly panicked voice of Knuckles broke the morning serenity. “I’m just outside, Knuckie!” Rouge called back.

Knuckles burst through the door. “Are you batty or what? Disappearing like that!” He exclaimed, aggravated.

“Well I didn’t know when you would wake up.”

“You set food right next to me, of course I was going to smell it and wake up.”

“Don’t worry baby, next time I’ll make sure I’m in view. I know you want me to be the first thing you see when you wake up,” she teased in a sickly sweet voice, fluttering her long eyelashes. 

He blushed furiously, then spluttered “Shut up! That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”

“I did know that! You’re so insightful, knuckie! You understand me so well~”

“Keep that up and you’re not invited here ever again.”

“Yeah right. As if you’d pass up another breakfast smoothie in bed. Or in a chair.”

“Last time I checked, I can make my own smoothies.”

“Fine, I see how it is,” Rouge sighed dramatically, striking a tragic pose, “you don’t need me in your life!” Then, switching back to her normal position, she changed the subject. “How was the smoothie, by the way?”

Knuckles turned and walked back into the house. He came back outside sipping his peach raspberry concoction. “It’s fine, I guess. Could use some avocado.”

“Who puts avocado in their fruit smoothie?” Rouge asked, sticking out her tongue in mock disgust. 

“I do. You should try it,” he replied. They drank their breakfasts in silence, watching the sky get bluer. 

Finally they were finished and it was time for Rouge to go home. She was dreading it, but realized she shouldn’t put off the inevitable drone check any further. They got to walk together there, holding a civil conversation in which the teasing was minimal. 

“Man, I have spent way too much time with you. I’m about to start wearing eyeshadow and high heels,” Knuckles groaned.

“That’s a very brave choice darling. I’m sure you’ll look stupendous,” Rouge countered, turning the jab on its head. 

“Bet!” He laughed. They were at Rouge’s doorstep now, a familiar setting. He waved her off. After so long together it felt as if goodbyes weren’t necessary. He began walking away. Rouge thought about telling him about the drone for a brief moment, but didn’t. She went inside alone. 

The house felt better than it had the previous day. Warm sunlight shone through it, and everything was familiar. It seemed staying with Knuckles the previous night had been the right call. 

She quickly changed into a new outfit, then opened her wall safe to check on the robotic creep. The button camera lay on the bottom of the safe, it’s propellers stationary. Rouge picked it up and carefully untied the bedsheet square from it. There was no red recording light. There was nothing coming out of this bot; it had finally lost its battery power. 

What should her next move be? She wasn’t exactly a technology genius like Tails was. She did notice a few screws on the tiny drone. Maybe taking the thing apart would give her some clues. 

She rummaged around to find a screwdriver, and upon finding one, got to work. She set the drone on a table and carefully removed each visible screw. As each part came detached it was set aside so they could all be clearly seen. Etched on some of the metal parts were serial numbers or brand names, on bigger pieces both. 

Rouge gathered all the bits with serial and brand information on them. An idea was occurring to her to take these parts to the local technology shop in town. She would see if they carried these brands, and if they could track a customer based on the product they’d bought and the serial number.

It was still very much the morning, so she had plenty of time to walk to town and find what she needed. She fitted herself with hiking shoes and a backpack. In the backpack she had a ziplock bag of the important serialized parts, a water bottle, snacks, money, a first aid kit, and her phone. 

Rouge left her house again, barely half an hour after returning. Just past her doorstep, she noticed the sun glimmering off a nearby tree unnaturally. A closer look at the offending tree revealed a small metal box attached to it. It was about the size of a beetle. She would have mistaken it for one if her nerves hadn’t been heightened by the recent mechanical stalking. Carefully, so as not to squish the thing, she pulled the box off the tree. It was attached with simple adhesive, easy to get off. The sides of the thing had slots. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it wasn’t supposed to be on a tree, and somebody obviously stuck it there. She stowed the tiny thing in the bag with her drone pieces and restarted on her path to town, and subsequently, the tech shop. As she walked, she thought. It seemed plausible that this new discovery was an audio bug. It had no camera so what other purpose could it have? She guessed the perp had bugged the surrounding forest before venturing to plant the camera drone in her actual house. 

She gasped audibly. Could her conversation with Knuckles about the open window have tipped off the audio bugs? Were there two perps in this equation — one for the flowers, and one for the drone? Or did this spy/stalker plant the flowers and the drone at the same time? The drone could have carried in the flowers and then hidden until she fell asleep again. Or maybe it wasn’t hiding and she’d been too distracted to notice it. That night, the night she had discovered the creepy camera, she was disoriented from Knuckles kissing her cheek. Had it watched her cooking dinner? Undressing? Showering? Nude pictures and videos of her could be in the hands of enemies right now. 

She shuddered and walked a little faster. 

Finally she made it to the town. This is where the shops and the civilians were. Just like she knew it would, the staring began. Rouge felt many eyes on her as soon as she entered. She was already feeling unsafe and uncomfortable, having to deal with a stalker. The unwelcome gazes didn’t help. Mostly old strangers as usual, but sometimes a jealous teen or a judgemental mother. Her figure made her a target.

She held her head high and looked straight ahead. It was best not to entertain them. She knew by now that confronting them would do nothing productive. She would be at her destination quickly enough.

She reached the tech shop and immediately approached the young cashier. He looked up from his video game magazine and quickly put on a customer service smile, which is to say, a fake one.

“Welcome to Techies Paradise, how may I help you today?” He asked in an unnaturally high tone.

“Hi, I was wondering if it was possible to find out if certain products were bought from this establishment by their serial number,” Rouge replied just as fakely. 

“Um. That is possible, ma’am, but it would be easier if you had the original packaging with the barcode on it.”

“I’m terribly sorry I don’t have that. I only have serial numbers.” She smiled with her cheeks, hoping the teenager wouldn’t ask questions. Minimum wage didn’t pay for him to be invested in the customers’ lives, after all.

Luckily he was a straightforward lad. “That’s alright. Do you at least have the products with you?” He brought an iPad up while asking.

“I do, hang on.” Rouge grabbed her backpack and retrieved the baggie of metal bits. She set the bag carefully on the counter between her and the worker, then returned her backpack to its place. 

The teen worked quickly, obviously wanting to get this interaction over with and get back to his magazine as quickly as possible. He picked out a few pieces from the bag, typed the product and serial number into his iPad, and looked at the results. He did this several times, then spoke to Rouge again.

“Yes ma’am, all these parts were bought from our store.”

“Excellent! Do you know who bought them?” Rouge leaned on the counter in anticipation.

“Uh. Ma’am, I’m not at liberty to reveal our customers’ information.”

“What? Look, this is important. I really need to know.”

“No ma’am. I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” The kid sure was being obstinate for someone being paid so little. Rouge considered using some money to bribe him to see things her way, when someone else came into the store. 

“Rouge! Nice to see you out and about!” Sonic was the new arrival in the store. Rouge turned to see him wave at her as he walked over. 

“Sonic, what a coincidence.” Rouge smiled at her friend. The cashier seemed to be in shock and gaped open-mouthed at the legendary hero. 

“What brings you to Techies Paradise? I didn’t think you were the machinery type.”

“Well…” Rouge thought it over quickly. She could tell the truth or a coverup story. After finding the audio bug and thinking over the camera debacle, she’d realized this was too big to handle on her own. If she told a lie, she would have to keep it up, and then once the whole thing was over with she would probably have to come clean anyway. It was kind of silly to keep it to herself when Sonic could be useful. Sonic was a hero, he was trustworthy. She decided to tell him the real reason she was there. 

“A word in private please,” she asked, pulling sonic away from the counter. Once she was sure the worker couldn’t hear her, she divulged her story to the confused hedgehog.

“Truth is, I found a camera planted in my room. I think somebody is stalking me. So I had to bring the camera’s parts in here to find out who bought them, but the cashier isn’t cooperating,” she whispered to him, leaning in close so the conversation stayed private. Sonic’s eyes grew wide, then concerned. “That’s serious.”

“Please don’t tell anyone else! If it gets around, we might not be able to catch the stalker. They would be alerted that I’m looking for them.”

“We’re looking for them. I’ll help any way I can of course!” He assured her, grabbing her hands and squeezing them reassuringly. Then, guiding her by one hand, Sonic walked back up to the cashier. The poor teen clearly wasn’t prepared to stand up against the hero of Mobius.  
“Wh-what can I do for you, sir?” He asked unevenly.

“I need to know who bought those parts, buddy, think you can find that info for me?” Sonic asked confidently, standing up straight to properly intimidate the minimum-wage worker.  
Suddenly it was as easy as asking. The teenager printed out a sheet with all the info he had on the customer and handed it to Sonic. “The customer is a member of our rewards program, so we have his address, phone number, name, you can have it all, right here sir,” the cashier rushed over this information. Sonic thanked him, then bought a video game console and stepped outside with Rouge in tow. 

“Wow. That was amazing Sonic. Do you abuse your power like that often?” Rouge exclaimed, in genuine awe. Sonic laughed. “Not often. Only when it’s needed. So who’s the perp?”

Rouge looked over the sheet of information. The man’s name was Fly Fletcher, he lived nearby in a nice part of town, and he was 23 years old. A phone number was listed, as well as a list of products he’d bought recently from that shop. 

He’d bought all the drone parts, as well as several tiny wireless-connection microphones and even some tracking devices. This was serious stuff.

“I’ve never heard of him before. I think it’s safe to assume he’s working alone,” Rouge told Sonic, handing him the paper so he could read it too. His brow furrowed.

“Let’s get some lunch,” he suggested, seemingly out of left field. 

“Sure, I’m starved,” Rouge agreed readily. They found a fast food joint and ordered two simple meals. 

As they ate, Sonic started scolding her. “Rouge, why didn't you come to me about this issue as soon as you learned about it?”

Rouge sighed and paused eating her burger. “Man, I thought burgers were the only thing being grilled in here… I thought I could deal with it myself. I’ve been doing fine.”

“How long have you known you were being stalked.”

“I’ve known for two days. The day before yesterday is when I found the camera drone. There was evidence of a breakin at my house even before that, though.”

“Tails told me about that part.” Of course Tails had told the story to his best buddy. This is exactly why she hadn’t told him about the creepbot the day before. 

“Well, that’s about it. You’re up to date on the story!” Rouge smiled sarcastically, but Sonic kept his serious expression. 

“Rouge,” he started, his tone somber, “you really can come to me— to the team— with anything. You’re still recovering, we can protect you.”

“And what? You think I’m incapable of protecting myself?” Rouge thought she had been doing fine all by herself. She only needed Sonic to deal with civilians. He didn’t need to get all knight-in-shining-armor on her. 

“Normally you could! I’m not saying you’re weak, I’m just pointing out that you could have ASKED for HELP!” Sonic began to raise his voice, but quickly realized he was doing so and stopped. He closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. 

“Maybe I didn’t want help. Maybe I thought I was leaning too much on the team. Maybe I don’t want to have to rely on those I care about to be put in danger for MY problem,” Rouge explained slowly and carefully. She looked at her feet while doing so. They were both silent for a second.

“We’re the heroes of Mobius. If we can’t help our friend in a time of need, what kind of heroes are we?” Sonic tried to explain.

“I’m a hero too. Last time I checked, my legs are fine, and I can fight for myself.”  
“At least let me tell Knuckles about this. He’s so concerned.”

“No!” Rouge fought back tears. She was NOT going to cry in this stupid fast food restaurant over a pseudo-therapy session with Sonic the Hedgehog. “Don’t tell him most of all. He’s already done too much for me. I can’t accept more from him— or any of you— in good conscience!” Her voice wavered. Before she knew it, Sonic had moved to her side. “Can I hug you?” He asked first, and only when she nodded did he put an arm around her in a half-hug. 

“Our friendship for you isn’t a finite resource. We won’t like you any less if you rely on us,” Sonic’s voice was a comforting rumble, so soft nobody but she could have heard it. “We help you because we love you. And if you love us, please accept our feelings by letting us know what’s going on in your life, and allowing us to support you.” 

A fat tear rolled down her cheek. So much for not crying in the stupid fast food restaurant.  
“Non-romantically of course,” Sonic added.

“I knew that,” Rouge choked out. She turned a bit to hug Sonic back, squeezing him slightly. He returned the squeeze, then they broke apart. 

“You wanna find a restroom to freshen up in?” Sonic asked sympathetically.

“Yes please,” Rouge replied, and that she did. Once she spent a few minutes in the restroom calming down, she looked fine again. Luckily she hadn’t worn makeup that day so there was nothing to smear, but that also meant she had nothing to cover her red eyes with. 

Once she came back out of the restroom, Sonic asked if he could tell the others about her plight. She agreed this time. But first they would visit the address listed on the info sheet to see if Fly Fletcher, male, age 23 was home and available for arrest. 

They walked to the address and found themselves in front of a beautiful townhouse. They knocked, but nobody answered. It seemed he wasn’t home. 

A quick peek inside the windows showed several strange tech gadgets and many monitors. 

“This looks like the home of a camera-drone maker,” Sonic commented.

“For sure. He obviously has the funds to continue his illegal hobby,” Rouge agreed. 

“Hey, we could stake out his house until he comes home,” Sonic suggested brightly. Rouge thought it was a great idea but realized she wasn’t equipped for a full stakeout.

“I’ll run home to grab a few more, better supplies. You call the team and let them know the situation and the plan. I… I want the support of my friends for this,” Rouge explained. Sonic smiled softly at her. He said he would call everyone right away.

He was already dialing Knuckles’ number on his cell phone when Rouge started back on the path to her home. 

Now that she had her friends backing her up, this would be so much more manageable.


	7. Who Said We Were Together?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If reading about creepy stalkers isn’t for you, then skip this chapter!

Rouge’s backpack fell to the floor. 

When she had arrived at her house earlier, the front door was wide open and she could hear somebody inside, so she had gone in to investigate. There was a stranger in her house, rummaging through the drawers haphazardly and erratically. The sight of it was what made her drop her backpack. 

The soft thump it made was enough to alert the stranger. He turned around and saw Rouge.   
He was a grey wolf, seemingly older than Rouge. He grasped tightly to a phone. He was hunched over from searching, but once he recognized Rouge he straightened to his full height— much taller than her. 

Rouge was frozen in place, shocked and scared by the sudden appearance of the final boss. She wasn’t prepared for this.

“Rouge! Babe, welcome home,” the wolf exclaimed happily. He didn’t seem bothered to be caught.

“Are you Fly? Fly Fletcher?” Rouge asked warily.

“You know me. Of course you do,” his voice was breathy, and a pink tint came into his cheeks.   
Rouge found her courage and solidified her resolve. She stood up straight, lifted her chin, and glared with all her being. 

“So you’re the one who sent that camera drone. You were the one filming me, and listening through your creepy audio bugs,” she growled. 

“Babe, I’m hurt. They aren’t creepy. You know I put those in place to protect you, keep an eye on you, connect when we can’t be together.” He stepped closer, arms outstretched. “You’re mad that I haven’t called. That’s so cute. I’m here now.”

Rouge flinched. This man was clearly delusional. He seemed to think that he had some sort of relationship with Rouge. She clenched her fists. Maybe a quick beat down would stop any more delusions. 

But not yet. She needed a strategy. He didn’t seem to be strong, but he was still bigger, by a lot. Rouge played it casual for now.

“Oh, of course! Sorry Darling. Why are you visiting so suddenly?” She forced a smile. She walked calmly past Fly and into the kitchen, even though every muscle in her body was screaming at her to run. Fly followed closely behind. He looked over her.

“My camera stopped working. Do you know where it is?” He sounded more demanding than inquisitive. Rouge silently rummaged through a drawer. 

Finally she found what she had been looking for— a tape recorder. She would force some confessions from this creep first, and then beat the snot out of him. Turned away from the man, she pressed record on the device and tucked it down her shirt in her cleavage. Having hidden her little trick, she faced the stalker again and continued their conversation.  
“I have no idea where the camera drone you sent into my house to watch me is. How did you know it wasn’t working? What happened?” She started. She hope dearly that he was stupid enough to comply. 

“See, I was watching the feed on my monitor at home. You know my mother never lets me visit you after dark. You were peacefully asleep when the visuals just stopped coming in. The drone was still working but the camera part, something happened to it. Now it’s disconnected. I came to retrieve it,” he explained conveniently.

“And remind me, why do you send camera drones and such? I simply hate being recorded, you know,” Rouge pushed it farther. Fly stared at her unblinkingly, with eyes like burning coals, as he talked.

“I love to watch what you do. It helps us stay connected when mother doesn’t let me visit.” He paused, then pressed his dirty paws onto Rouge’s shoulders. She stayed stock still. Not yet. “Don’t lie,” Fly’s voice was gravelly and desperate, “you like being recorded. You flaunt for the camera. You want me to watch you.” 

Okay, that was enough! 

Quick as a flash, Rouge brought her arms up between Fly’s and twisted on the spot, effectively breaking his grasp. As she twisted she kicked him powerfully in the stomach, then used that impact to launch herself away from him. Normally she would have used her wings to stabilize the landing. All too late she remembered that she couldn’t. Instead of landing gracefully a safe distance away, she stumbled on the landing and fell. 

The kick made Fly double over. He gasped for air. As rouge picked herself up from the fall, he glared at her.

“Rouge,” He mumbled, “why would you do that?” As he spoke, he lurched toward her, but having recovered from the fall she was able to dodge him easily. 

“You’re delusional,” Rouge spat in return. “You’re a creep, a stalker, and I’ve never known you, much less liked you.” Oh how she wished now she could fly. It was the perfect opportunity for an overhead assault. For now she would have to aim low. 

“Stop lying! STOP IT!” He yelled, getting aggressive. He clenched his fists and ran at Rouge.  
She was ready. As he swung a punch where her head was, she dropped to the floor in a split second. The momentum kept his moving past her, and as he ran above her, she aimed a kick right in the family jewels, making Fly crumple to the ground as she stood again.   
She used the opportunity time while he was recovering. She charged and aimed another kick right at his head.

Apparently he hadn’t been as hurt as it appeared. Fly twisted and caught her leg in midair, still crouching. 

He pulled the leg, causing Rouge to crash down to the floor. A sharp pain ran through her back.   
Fly pinned both her legs down. She couldn’t get up, and he was leaning over her. 

“Now we’ll see what happens to you when you act out like that, sweetheart,” he threatened. Rouge could feel his disgusting breath on her face. She closed her eyes tightly and, hoping beyond hope that anyone was nearby, screamed. 

She screamed bloody murder, as loud and annoying as she could, until the rough hand of her captor was shoved over her mouth, stifling the noise. His claws scratched her cheeks in the struggle. Something hot rolled down Rouge’s face, and at this point she wasn’t sure if it was her blood, her tears, or the stalker’s drool. 

And suddenly he was off her. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from her and she could breathe again. Rouge gasped and sat up, looking around frantically to see where he’d gone.   
There he was ten feet away, grappling violently with the hero who had pushed him off of Rouge just moments before. Fly was caught off guard, so Knuckles had the upper hand in the fight. 

Knuckles’ fists made quick work of the inexperienced assailant. 

“WHAT—DID—YOU—DO—TO—HER?!” Knuckles growled, punctuating each word with another blow. Fly tried to get in some hits, but ultimately couldn’t win against the echidna. He was subdued quickly. Not emotionally, he just couldn’t move. 

Once he was done, Knuckles straightened up and stepped back. He breathed heavily from the exercise. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?” He repeated, staring daggers at the crumpled man. Fly refused to answer, or maybe he couldn’t. Either way he was silent. Eventually Knuckles turned his attention away from his opponent to Rouge.

She was still sitting on the floor, shocked but thankful that Knuckles had appeared. He walked over to her and extended a hand to help her up.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yes! Physically I’m fine,” she asserted. She took his hand and tried to stand up. Her legs shook too much to support her weight, so she ended up falling back to the floor anyway. She would have to stay seated for now. “Why are you here?” She asked incredulously.  
“I heard you scream.”

“No, I mean— didn’t Sonic call you to go to town? Why are you here?”

“He did call me. He also told me that you’d gone back to your house alone. I can’t believe he let you go without protection, when he knew that you had a dangerous criminal stalking you! We need to talk about that too, by the way,” he ranted his explanation. Rouge just listened, dazed.

“You knew that somebody was after you, specifically while you were recovering and unable to fight, and you didn’t tell us? You didn’t tell me?” He became more serious. His tone grew deeper. “I told you that you could rely on me for anything.”

“I know, it was stupid.” Rouge looked down, away from Knuckles. “Let’s pretend I already feel terrible, and you don’t have to rub it in.” 

Knuckles backed off the topic. Carefully, he kneeled beside her and reached his arms out. Rouge leaned into the offered hug. His arms closed around her. At that moment, his arms were the safest place in the world. The warm embrace grounded her and helped her mind calm down. 

“Traitor,” Fly muttered from his position defeated on the floor. The word was spoken softly, but filled with such malice that Rouge was startled back into the real world. Knuckles broke away from Rouge to stand over the man, clenching his fists threateningly.   
“Finally feel like talking, huh?” Knuckles scoffed. 

“You… can’t steal her from me,” Fly gasped. He had trouble forming the words. His speech sounded warbled. “Rouge belongs to me.” 

“No, I don’t,” Rouge spoke up. Her hatred for this creep was building by the second. “You’re nothing but the s*** I scrape off my shoe.”

They all heard sirens in the distance. Backup. Rouge wondered who called for them. 

“That’s the police. If you’re lucky, you’ll get 40 years of jail time for this. And if you so much as LOOK at my girlfriend again,” Knuckles threatened, his eyes narrowing, “you’ll be going to the morgue instead of the courthouse.” 

Just then, a fully armed police squad burst through the open doors. All of their guns were pointed straight at Fly Fletcher, who promptly fainted. One of the officers handcuffed him while a few others kept their guns on him just in case. The leftover cops took to questioning Rouge and Knuckles. 

“Look, we’ve walked into a situation with one unconscious man with multiple abrasions and you two seemingly unscathed, with only Sonic’s word that the wolf is some sort of psycho. So I’m gonna need you two to start talking,” one of the officers demanded. 

The two of them were seated at a table with the officers. They explained the situation as best as they could. Rouge confessed all that she had experienced, from the open window up to her struggle with Fly. She retrieved the recorder from her cleavage and played the audio back for the officers, explaining events as the recording played out. Knuckles looked as if he would be sick throughout the story, he was so disgusted. The officers took it very professionally.   
Once Rouge told her side, Knuckles took over with his account from when he heard Rouge’s scream to the current moment. 

By the time their accounts had been told, Fly had been stuffed into a cop car and driven away. He was in police custody, and with the recorded evidence and witness testimony from the heroes of Mobius, he wouldn’t be getting out any time soon. 

The officers took meticulous photos of the crime scene, thanked Knuckles and Rouge for catching the criminal and being compliant, and finally left. 

“...You called me your girlfriend. Who said we were together?” Rouge asked. Now that the distractions were gone and it was just the two of them, it seemed like the time to bring it up.   
Knuckles was caught off guard. “I didn’t think it was something that needed to be said,” he admitted.

“For real? That wasn’t just to ward off the stalker?” There were so many surprises today.  
“No— unless you don’t want to date me!” He asserted, flustered.

“Are you kidding?” A weary smile crossed her face. “I’ve been wanting to date you for years.”   
Step sounds from outside the house alerted the new couple to more visitors. The rest of the Sonic team burst into the house.

“Rouge!” Amy squealed, running up to her exhausted friend. 

“Amy! Everyone!” Rouge sighed in return, giving a wave to all of her friends. 

“The policemen just gave us the okay to come in,” Sonic explained as everyone mobbed around Rouge. “I’m so sorry, it didn’t occur to me that he might be at your house,” he apologized sincerely to Rouge. She told him it was understandable. 

“At least Knuckles had the good sense to come. At just the right time too,” she exclaimed. 

“Um, Rouge,” Tails piped up, “we’re not exactly up to speed. You really had a stalker?”

“Are you okay with telling us what happened? We won’t pry if not,” Cream asked politely. 

“Okay. You all deserve to know the truth.” Rouge launched into her explanation one more time. Her friends listened intently and sympathetically. Once the horrific tale was over, they all expressed shock and concern. They immediately started suggesting how they could help her. 

“You’re clearly shaken up. I can make you some tea for now, and bring you some meals later,” Cream offered kindly. She started the kettle.

“You can talk to me anytime. I’m usually up late working on projects so I’m totally available. I could even read up on psychology to help you,” Tails pitched in.

“If you need a distraction I’m here to help!” Was Sonic’s two cents.

“I’ll bet this house has bad memories, you don’t wanna stay here right now. You can sleep over at my place until you feel okay with it again,” Amy told Rouge. 

She gratefully accepted the help from her friends, all of them. She would need help to get through this. 

They all had a cup of tea courtesy of Cream. By then Rouge wasn’t too shaky anymore so she could stand and walk. Tails brought out a bug-sweeper to find any leftover tech from the stalker. Once Rouge had packed an overnight bag, she, Amy, and Knuckles walked to Amy’s house. It was already night by this time, so the way was illuminated by a flashlight held by Amy, who led the way. 

Amy’s curiosity got the better of her. “Why is Knuckles coming with us?” She asked, having guessed the reason already. 

“This is my emotional support echidna,” Rouge replied lightly, holding hands with Knuckles as they walked. 

Knuckles rolled his eyes at the comment. “I’m just going to make sure she’s okay at your place, then I’ll go home,” he explained to Amy. 

Finally they made it to her house. It was certainly inviting. The whole place felt like a home no matter where you actually lived. Of course Amy was an amazing host to her two guests. She showed Rouge to the guest room which was fully furnished. The guest room was better than Amy’s own. 

“Is there anything in particular that you want for dinner, Rouge?” Amy asked, considering it was very late and they hadn’t eaten. 

“I’ll eat anything at this point,” she replied easily. Rouge was rather hungry. Amy left the guest room, most likely to the kitchen. 

Rouge started organizing her things in her borrowed room. While she did so, she talked with Knuckles.

“How are you feeling right now?” He asked her.

“Honestly?” Rouge reflected on it while putting clothes in the chest of drawers. “Shaky. That guy was a major creep, I’m still freaked out from our encounter. But I also know I can trust my friends. And I know that he’s in prison right now, and I’m not in that house anymore, but... I’m still freaked out.” 

“I see. That kind of thing would stick with you,” he replied, somewhat awkwardly. 

Rouge sat down on the bed. “How about you? How do you feel?” She asked him, crossing her legs. 

“Concerned. Relieved. I’m glad you’re safe, but I wish we’d caught that guy before all this,” he sighed heavily. 

“At least I got one good thing out of this,” Rouge hinted.

“What’s that?” 

“A wonderful boyfriend!” She grinned. 

Knuckles laughed softly. He moved to sit on the bed next to her, and she leaned into him. He put his arm around her.

They kept talking: about the day’s events, the whole week, their previous months hanging out together, everything, reminiscing and confessing. 

Eventually Rouge, tired from the eventful day, dozed off. Once she was asleep, Knuckles tucked her in and went out the room. 

In the hallway he met Amy with a dish of food. 

“Oh, Knuckles. How is she doing?” Amy asked.

“Shh. She’s fallen asleep,” Knuckles explained.

“What!” Amy whispered happily. “Now what will I do with this fresh-cooked delicacy?”  
“Let her sleep. She needs it.”

“In that case, you can have this to-go,” Amy replied, handing the dish to him. She walked him to the door. “One more thing before you leave,” she exclaimed, “is it true that you and Rouge are dating now?”

Knuckles nodded.

“About time. Wait ‘til the team hears about this— they all owe me some money!” Amy giggled. “Goodnight, Knuckles!”


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rouge and Knuckles are together now. As if that’s a surprise.

The crash of a thousand boulders falling was the team’s alert that Eggman had started his latest attack. Not only that, but it ruined the atmosphere of the fancy restaurant Knuckles and Rouge were in. They would have to cut their date short to go fight him.

Rouge, master of the quick change, peeled off her evening dress to reveal her usual skintight battle outfit underneath. 

“Do you wear that under everything?” Knuckles goaded, taking off his restrictive tuxedo and laying it and his seat. 

“As a matter of fact, I do. I even have another one under this,” Rouge replied, sarcastic as ever. She grabbed Knuckles’ hands and flew out a large open window they had been sitting near at the restaurant. As they did, a waiter rushed after them, gesturing wildly.

“Don’t worry— we’ll be right back to pay the bill!” Knuckles called while they were still within earshot. The waiter simply appeared defeated. 

“Remind me to give him a huge tip later,” Rouge laughed as they flew above the city.   
“You? I thought it was my turn to pay.”

“If it was up to you, it would always be your turn to pay. Anyway, we better meet up with the rest of the team and scope out this new bot.” Rouge rolled her eyes.

Once they’d reached the edge of the forest, Sonic ran up next to them. Tails and Cream flew in quickly, and Amy was riding a motorbike right behind. Now the team was assembled. Sonic began his briefing.

“I went ahead to the mountainside to get a look at the bot. It’s big, got 4 shovel-arms, but it’s legs are thin. We could probably bust them in easily. Knuckles, Amy, you’re our frontal offense, focus on the legs! Rouge, Cream, and Tails, you focus on damage control. And I’ll be in charge of banter!” He exclaimed excitedly.

“Why is banter an essential part of the battle plan?” Cream asked politely with an incredulous look on her face. 

“Because Eggman’s graced us with his presence this time. He’s hovering right next to his attack bot,” Sonic clarified. It was clear that he considered this a good thing. 

They made quick work through the forest and soon could see Eggman and his ugly machine.   
It was busy hacking away at the side of the mountain. It was either looking for something in the most haphazard way possible or trying to cause a rockslide. All bets were on the second option. 

“Hey Egghead! We haven’t seen you in a while,” Sonic began. The others dispersed to do their individual jobs. 

“Only because I didn’t want you to see me,” Eggman insisted, not looking up from his handheld monitor. 

“Is that why? Here I thought it was because you couldn’t fit through your front door,” Sonic ran circles around Eggman and his little hovering ship just to annoy him. 

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Amy found the legs a little tougher than they’d bargained for. Their first attempts at smashing the metal twigs didn’t affect them. The giant robot hadn’t even been distracted by them. It kept chiseling away at the mountain precariously as several large rocks shuddered above them all, just waiting to crash down at the slightest provocation. 

Rouge, Tails, and Cream were on the rocks in no time. Quickly Tails brought some rope and stakes out of his trusty pack and the fliers set to work. They tied down any particularly large and unstable boulders. Tails also directed where to skewer the mountainside to provide more stability. Cream was able to evacuate the nearby animals.

The flying team’s efforts weren’t perfect. The only thing that could secure the mountain for sure was stopping that stupid bot. So Rouge flew down to help the frontal assault tanks.   
Of course she could fly again; her wing had healed beautifully. Though she did tend to drift to the right. It had been half a year since it was broken. Yet not a day went by that she didn’t think about the events of those few weeks. She had those times to thank for the relationships she had with her teammates now. One important relationship in particular.

She drifted to the ground, making a soft landing a bit beyond where Knuckles and Amy were trying to crumple the legs of the behemoth. They weren’t having much luck thus far. Rouge watched for a few seconds before stepping closer and catching her teammates’ attention.   
“Yoo-hoo! Need any help?” She called, grinning. They grinned right back, glad to see her.  
“We certainly do! Would you happen to know anybody who could lend a hand? Or a leg?” Amy wasn’t much for teasing, being as sweet as she was, but she tried. 

Rouge did a 2-second inspection of the bot’s legs. There were 4 of them, all rather spindly like an insect’s, but after quite a few hits with both Amy’s hammer and Knuckles’ fists hadn’t done more than dented them. The dents, however, were large—the legs looked effectively deformed, but they still held the thing up and even moved. Obviously the metal they were built out of was meant to last. 

“Alright, we’ll have to aim directly at one of the joints with all of our force combined!” Rouge explained in a tone mimicking Sonic’s. She even threw out a thumbs up for effect. 

“Combo attack! Combo attack!” Knuckles and Amy chanted in anticipation. 

All three of them stood in a line next to the leg they would disable, making sure they weren't in danger of the bot falling on them. 

It only took a countdown from three to get them all in sync, and they attacked the joint at once—Knuckles’ fist, Rouge’s leg, and Amy’s hammer smashed into the metal monstrosity, dismantling the thing immediately. It still had three legs and thus was able to stay up.

“Let’s try that again!” They all agreed. 

“You horrible pests!” Eggman interrupted them before they could get down to it. “Can’t you let me destroy a few measly landmarks?”

“No we can’t, this mountain is home to a lot of wildlife,” Amy yelled up at him. 

“Wildlife, shmildlife. What purpose do they serve? Why, once I level this stupid hill I’ll put a vacation resort and factory here,” he sneered.

The team turned back around to keep attacking the robot. It wasn’t worth humoring him further. Sonic continued the banter.

“All you make in your factories are evil schemes and more robots! We won’t let you hurt anyone or anything else,” Sonic sounded tough. He stretched his legs to intimidate Eggman.  
“Of course, I wouldn't want to hurt anyone,” he replied sarcastically, then aimed his dialogue at Rouge. “Nice to see you’re up and about again, by the way. If you’d stuck with me that wouldn’t have happened.”

“You’re the one who kicked me out, remember, Eggy? But thanks for the concern,” Rouge scoffed. With that she, Knuckles, and Amy crumpled another leg of Eggman’s robot minion. The whole thing shuddered and crashed to the ground, shattering in impact. The mountain was saved. Tails and Cream cheered from the top! 

Eggman growled angrily at being defeated yet again. 

“You’ll regret this someday, you pack rats!” He roared. He flew away, presumably back to his lair to plot next week’s attack.

“Good work, team!” Sonic cheered as the rest of the group gathered around him. 

“I’d say the same to you, but I couldn’t hear your skillful banter over the sound of us saving the mountain,” Knuckles teased him. 

“I’m sure if you’d helped, that robot would have been destroyed in two seconds!” Amy swooned.

“I had complete faith in all of you! I knew you could do it without my help,” Sonic exclaimed with a big grin. It was obvious he’d enjoyed the experience. They all laughed.

Knuckles took a gentle hold of Rouge’s hand, then cleared his throat. “If you’ll excuse us,” he said cordially, “We have a date to get back to, and a waiter to tip.” 

The team said their goodbyes briefly.

Knuckles and Rouge, walking hand in hand, headed back to the fancy restaurant. 

“How exciting that Eggman was there. It’s always fun to stick it to him in person!” Rouge exclaimed, red-cheeked from the exercise.

“For sure! Felt good to have some action. Though he could have chosen a more considerate time,” Knuckles laughed.

“Yeah, did he forget when we compared schedules with him?” Rouge's sarcasm was palpable. “Of course he wouldn’t know what time was convenient for us, knucklehead! And even if he did, Eggman is a villain! He’d probably attack when we were busiest.” She rolled her eyes.  
“So he would attack tonight.”

“Tonight? Did we have something after our dinner date?”

“Yeah. We’ll be busy at my house tonight,” Knuckles grinned and winked. 

Rouge went red. “Knuckles!” She sputtered, “I swear you’re as bad as me!” She hit him lightly on the arm as he laughed at his own joke. 

“I learned from the worst!” He retorted, hitting her back.

“Oh? You wanna fight?”

“Bring it on, Batty!” 

They posted up playfully, jabbing but never connecting a hit. Despite this, Knuckles pretended to be hit. He whirled away from Rouge, dramatically crying out in “pain”. 

“You’re too strong! I’m mortally wounded!” He gasped. Rouge giggled. She walked closer and grabbed onto his arm.

“I’m so sorry precious, I don’t know my own strength.” She pouted. “Here, I’ll kiss it better.”  
Rouge closed her eyes and leaned in, but let Knuckles decide to make contact. 

Making out in the forest wasn’t part of their original date plan, but sometimes an improvised plan was better than the original. 

For a tough guy, Knuckles’ lips were surprisingly soft. He was a gentle type of kisser, so obviously inexperienced that it was endearing. He stopped the kiss all too soon. He gazed at her with the world in his eyes. Rouge moved her hand up his arm to his shoulder, feeling every muscle along the way. With him, no kiss lasted very long, but Rouge made up for it by going back in. Every time he broke contact, she stayed close by to reclaim his lips after a few moments’ break. Knuckles held her close by the waist. Blissful warmth spread through the both of them. 

They could have and would have stayed there for hours, but unfortunately someone had to remember their half-finished meal at the restaurant. 

“Hold on! Uh… the waiter,” Knuckles exclaimed, disoriented as he was.

“He can wait! That’s his job,” Rouge replied, exasperated.

“The restaurant will close soon. We’ve got to go.” Sadness tinged his voice, but Knuckles was right. They would have to keep walking. 

“Alright, but we’ll continue this later,” Rouge pouted. 

“Of course we will, Rouge. For the rest of our lives,” he assured her gently.


End file.
